korean unification studies

From the woodwork come all the Korea analysts with their two cents worth on the upcoming leaders summit… and some of it aint half bad. Andrei Lankov has a pice at the IHT, with the biting line:

“Seoul does not want North Korea to implode in a democratic revolution or a popular uprising - partially because it is afraid of instability, but largely because the costs of a German-style unification might ruin South Korea’s budget. Rather, Seoul would like to see a slow, controlled unification process that would drag on for decades” [Andrei Lankov, "The wrong reasons to talk", IHT, 17 August 2007]

Victor Cha has a piece that reiterates the initial widespread feeling in the ROK:

“this looks like a last-minute political ploy designed to influence an election in December and for which a considerable sum of cash will probably be transferred to North Korea” [Victor Cha, "The summit's high expectations", Chosun Ilbo, 17 August 2007].

Finally, Kim Yeon Chul has a thought provoking piece in the IFES Forum that questions what has become the almost accepted view:

“It is not advisable to analyze this summit politically. The timing of events surrounding the Korean Peninsula does not revolve solely around South Korea’s presidential election…in North Korean politics, one summit meeting is more important than 100 working-level talks” [Kim Yeon Chul, IFES Forum, 18 August 2007]