For unification, time is on Seoul's side

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Germany’s top diplomat hinted that the atmosphere for unification of the Korea Peninsula has slightly changed in favor of South Korea.

During a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se at the foreign ministry, Friday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said North Korea is becoming increasingly isolated as time goes by.

Steinmeier said South Korea had better slow down in its drive to invest in the North in case Pyongyang doesn’t respond positively.

He paid a courtesy visit to President Park Geun-hye after the press conference.

The German foreign minister is visiting Seoul for the first round of the Korean-German Advisory Group on the Foreign Policy towards Reunification held in the foreign ministry headquarters in Seoul, Friday.

The members of the group exchanged ideas about the so-called 2+4 talks, which involved East and West Germany, the United States, Britain, France and the former Soviet Union.

The two sides also discussed the geopolitical environment facing Germany then and Korea now to draw implications of German reunification for the unification of Korea.

A government official said the two Germanys took the initiative to achieve reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and multilateral diplomacy paved the way for German reunification.

“We need to think about the rational of the establishment of such symbolic multilateral talks,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the two Germanys were united politically 11 months later.

During the process, foreign policy watchers say, Germany paid greater attention to securing support from neighboring countries and power states.

Markus Meckel, the then East German foreign minister who participated in the 2+4 talks as a chief negotiator, was chosen as one of the six members of the advisory group from Germany.

He attended the first meeting in Seoul.

Hartmut Koschyk, president of the German-Korean friendship association, led the German delegation. Han Seung-joo, former foreign minister, led the Korean side.

The two sides agreed to form the advisory group in September to share the German experience in reunification with regards to the Korean Peninsula.

The Park government has placed a policy priority on preparations for unification following the President’s remarks on the benefits of a unified Korea in January.

The foreign ministry is scheduled to hold a seminar with four central European countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, to discuss their experiences in transition from communist to capitalist systems.