Seoul to take practical steps to learn from Berlin
President Park Geun-hye pays a tribute at the Neue Wache War Memorial Hall in Berlin during her state visit to Germany, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Chung Min-uck
President Park Geun-hye and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed Wednesday to fully learn from and share Berlin’s rich experience of unification.
“Calls for Seoul to learn from Germany’s past experience on unification have been around since the latter’s historic unification in 1990,” said Park Hyung-joong, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Thursday. “However, frankly speaking, Berlin’s experience and knowledge have not been handed over well due to a lack of a systematic approach and effort from the Seoul government.”
“I believe what President Park is trying to do is take more practical steps and learn about the true essence of Germany’s unification experience,” the researcher added.
South Korean leaders have formerly used state visits to the European country as an occasion to announce new policies on unification.
Former President Lee Myung-bak, during his trip to Germany in 2011, agreed to form a Korea-Germany joint consultation committee on unification which observers say failed to bear any fruit.
Park, during her meeting with Merkel, outlined a plan for cooperation.
Besides rejuvenating the Korea-Germany committee, measures include building cooperative networks between financial authorities and economic think-tanks in order to study how to raise the funds necessary for unification.
This is in line with Park’s recent words that said it would be an economic “bonanza” for the two Koreas as well as a blessing for neighboring nations if inter-Korean unification is achieved.
As part of her unification efforts, Park recently also ordered the creation of a presidential committee to prepare for unification.
The increased cooperation with Berlin also comes amid criticism made against Park that a plan of action has been missing to support her strong emphasis on Korean unification.
“President Park’s announcement of cooperative measures with Germany will help tone down negative perceptions about Park that her commitment to unification is all talk,” said an official, asking not to be named.
Unification is the main theme of the Park’s four-day visit to the European nation.
Park also plans to present her new vision for unification when she visits the former East German economic center of Dresden later this week. She will be the first South Korean president to visit a city formerly in East Germany.
South and North Korea have remained divided since the 1950-53 Korean War which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.