Germany marks the 20th anniversary of the reunification in a low-key way this week. The occasion is a moment for Koreas to ponder over a unified Korea. The reunification is a must, not a matter of an option or choice although Koreans are unprepared.
The reunified Germany was not without tension and schism. Germans are still undergoing financial burden. Despite the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, mental wall between East and West Germans lingers. It has become the leader in the EU. It accounted for 20 percent of all EU production. Its trade surplus of $300 billion is equal to South Korea’s yearly trade amount.
The German union was not accidental. Long before the division, West Germany provided assistance to the Communist East Germany. It is called the Ostpolitik, which means change through rapprochement policy. Kim Dae-jung localized the Ostpolitik to adopt the Sunshine Policy of engaging with the North.
Despite the lack of preparation, there are many positive factors that would make the Korean reunion more dynamic and successful than the German one.
The reunification is necessary to cope with the aging of population and the world’s lowest birth rate. The South has hi-tech technology and capital. The North has a vast amount of natural resources. Unlike the Germanys, the two sides can engage in division of labor.
Koreas can also reduce the reunification cost by drawing lessons from Germany. For example, a hasty currency union was costly in Germany.
Koreas have a vast sea of obstacles to overcome. A feasible solution may be the one-country-two-system model like Hong Kong and Macao. Koreas establish an inter-Korean economic community and recognize their respective political system.
Before such a bold initiative, Koreas must get a guarantee from the six-party countries. The United States and North Korea must establish diplomatic relations and the North should scrap nuclear weapons completely, irreversibly and verifiably. Koreas must persuade China that a unified Korea will be of benefit to the Middle Kingdom.
The National Assembly should be bipartisan over the one-country-two-system formula. It is a tall expectation now in view of the current inter-Korean tension and the South Korean political culture.
The North denied its sinking of a South Korean warship and refused to make an apology for the shooting to death of a South Korean woman tourist to Mt. Geumgang. Politicians are short-sighted and narrow-minded and partisan over the North Korean issue. Approach to the solution will be different when the two Koreas are categorized as two brothers in dispute or two enemies in dispute.
As many as 20,000 North Korean defectors were struggling for adaptation to the capitalist South. Many young South Koreans talk about the need for the reunification, but they are skeptical over the real reunification.
Whether we like it or not, the reunification will surely come. The longer we delay the issue, the costly it will be. Benefit exceeds cost in a unified Korea