Can free and unified Korea create economy aimed toward its youth?

By Emanuel Pastreich

It has become a common practice for Koreans trying to explain their country to foreigners to remark that young Koreans are opposed to the unification of the Korean Peninsula because they fear a loss of job opportunities.

Although this statement in itself has been reaffirmed by multiple public opinion surveys, it is deeply flawed and profoundly misleading. This is because Korean youth form their opinions based on tired tales repeated in the media, which highlight how unification might hurt them. They fear the economic impact of unification because no one has ever mentioned a single positive benefit of a free and unified Korea in newspaper articles or television broadcasts.

Those surveys do not ask them whether they would support a free and unified Korea if it allowed them to transform Korea's inflexible society, in which they live, and to create businesses with other youth that allow them to be CEOs, to be entrepreneurs.

If young Koreans thought that unification meant that they could realize their own potential without being subject to grueling exams at universities aimed at preparing them for ruthless job interviews, I am certain that all of them would back a free and unified Korea.

Unification is not something that one chooses at a fast-food restaurant, like a Pepsi or Coke. Unification for Korea will be the result of complex geopolitical forces beyond the power of the individual, which combine with inspiring visions of Korea's future that are powerfully articulated by individuals.

If the Korean Peninsula moves toward unification in the years ahead, then unification will not be stopped, nor even slowed down, by the opinions offered in newspapers.

If there is a choice, it will be a choice between an inspiring and constructive unification that transforms Korea, East Asia and the world and a grey, lackluster, bureaucratic unification that benefits the few.

Unification, if properly articulated, offers the potential for Korean youth, in both the North and the South, to realize their dreams and to play a substantial role in the formation of a society that they could never achieve in the currently divided nation.

Unification should not be about the short-term interests of Korean conglomerates who want to build factories and exploit cheap North Korean labor, or build highways and expensive shopping malls in Pyongyang, which poor people in North Korea cannot afford.

The nature of finance in a unified Korea will be critical to the future of the youth of the North and the South.

I have found the writings of Preston Moon about how financial reform can catalyze a transformative unification of the Korean Peninsula to be inspiring and to offer a workable blueprint for Korean youth, and youth around the world.

Moon envisions a profound type of financial reform that changes the role of banks and money and that would allow innovative and energetic youth in Korea to have access to the funding that they need to realize their dreams.

The greatest frustration for young people in Korea, graduating high school or college with a solid education, is that there is no support for their dreams.

Banks cater to Korean conglomerates and finance projects that offer few opportunities for innovative young Koreans.

Moon suggests a revolution in finance whereby young Koreans would have access to the financial help they need to start their own businesses, in their own communities.

Moon extends this vision so that the future of finance includes a larger spiritual and social movement, what he calls "the Korean dream," which embodies the best of the Korean tradition. At the heart of this vision is the ancient Korean vision of "hongik," an inclusive human society that is committed to mutually beneficial situations and inclusivity.

Whereas the beneficiaries of conglomerate-dominated Korea are a tiny handful of men, mainly old men, this new concept of finance inspired by the "hongik" philosophy could bring together the youth in the North and South to form businesses and associations that are focused on the real needs of future generations.

A unification project that empowers youth in both the North and South to work together to create a new society focused on the vitality of youth, will have the power to transform the entire world, not just Korea.

Imagine if the role of finance was to support the creative projects that young people come up with after late-night brainstorming sessions with their peers in the North. Nothing could do more to bring new hope and promise to Korea, to create peace and stability in the region.

If young Koreans saw unification as a one in 500 years opportunity to reinvent both the North and South and create a democratic economy that permitted them to build their own futures, there would be no more opposition to unification. If anything, we would see the start of a mass movement that would change our world.

Emanuel Pastreich is researcher at Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University and senior fellow at Global Peace Foundation.