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A new tax has been proposed to prepare South Korea for the costs of unification. While I am never one to support a new tax, I reckon this is an excellent idea! Least of all because it will begin a conversation – a conversation that has been lacking in South Korea for around ten years. The conversation about how unification will occur… Hooray for the unification tax!
Talking about new taxes is never easy. It takes a brave politician to do so. There are many South Koreans who remain in debt and continue to face the ever rising costs of education and healthcare. South Korea may be moving out of the financial crisis, but many families are not.
It takes an even braver politician to talk about a policy to address a situation that scares the average punter into fits of denial. Who really wants unification if it will impact living standards? But Lee Myung-Bak has addressed the issue, and with a certain degree of style. From his liberation day speech:
“The time has come to start discussing pragmatic policies…unification will definitely come…It is therefore our duty to start thinking about real and substantive ways to prepare for reunification, such as the adoption of a unification tax. I ask that these and other issues related to this be discussed widely and thoroughly by all members of our society“
While I know a lot of people criticize Lee Myung-Bak and may view this tax cynically, I reckon that it’s about time to talk about the future of unification.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Dieter // Aug 16, 2010 at 10:39 am
I have been hoping that this unification conversation would start. We in Germany know that you must prepare, because change is always a surprise.
By the way, Welcome Back! I hope you will post more often now.
2 Kimmi // Aug 18, 2010 at 7:06 am
At my office there was a clear NO!
3 joeching // Aug 18, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Lee Myung-Bak and his american master are the stumbling blocks to unification. so just wait until he steps down in 2 years.
the best way to bear the financial burden of inviting north korea back into the great asia family is to construct a ultra-speedway between tokyo and shanghai, going thru pyongyang. converting all the military human resource of north korea to this construction project would bring north korea right into economic prosperity.
4 David // Aug 19, 2010 at 7:55 am
How is the government using the tax money to reunite two countries?
5 Mark Atkins // Oct 5, 2010 at 12:09 am
joeching says,
“Lee Myung-Bak and his american master are the stumbling blocks to unification…”
Question:
Where did you come up with something so stupid and ridiculous? Or do you willingly blind yourself to history, reason, and basic common sense?
The greatest stumbling block to unification is China. It was a spoiler in 1951, and in 2010 it still is. Without Chinese support, North Korea would collapse almost immediately.
Also, your idea of an Asian superhighway from Tokyo to Shanghai strikes me as particularly delusional, not the least of which being the fact that such a transit route would have to cross a lot of ocean (prone to a lot of typhoons) to get to Korea. And I have to say that the “great Asia family” you speak of does not exist in reality nor has it ever existed in the past. It’s like talking about a “great Europe family.” Asian countries, just like their European counterparts, have historically been quite interested in killing, looting, and conquering each other. It’s a problem that’s basic to human nature, and no wishful thinking on anyone’s part can change that.
Hence, the reason why pragmatism is essential here. Appeals to such vague, fluffy ideas like Pan-Asianism will ultimately accomplish nothing toward solving this problem.
6 joeching // Oct 5, 2010 at 4:40 pm
mark, do u know that america has been fighting the asians for a whole century, since the slaughtering of 10% of the people in the filippines? then the killing spree moved to china, via the puppet government of chiang kai shek(100 million deaths), then the smashing of japan for trying to rallying all asians against the western colonists, then korea war, the taiwan strait war(causing 40 million chinese to starve), and finally the vietnam war.
u v propagandaed this war as some noble rescue effort. and u r continue to cause the cultural revolution type of struggling first within china, then now the north korea. when r u going to stop?
what have the koreans dont to america that they have to suffer so much. and chinese?
as a chinese american i feel ashamed of america. and i feel ashamed for u for stink up america in asia and around the world. r u by any chance related to bush, or an alcoholic turn crusading christian?
7 Sarah Jung // Oct 24, 2010 at 3:23 am
I, a Korean American, totally agree with Mr. Mark Atkins. Now to Joeching, have you forgotten who has backed those unruly mob of Korean communist sympathizers, who in trying to establish a communist regime in Korea, has committed a unspeakable atrocities to their own citizens during the raging Korean War. It was China, with its own hidden agenda of spreading communism in the Asia, came to the aid of those bunches of ignorant , uneducated thugs, who murdered and mutilated their own country men at will and all under the banner of all-mighty communism. My parents and their friends, who’ve gone through the Korean War, are living witnesses to what the U.S. and its allies have sacrificed to keep a part of a Korean Peninsula free from the oppressive communism. Let the history speak and learn from it. Oh and while you’re at it, please compare North and South Korea, which country would you rather be in? I dare you to answer it–truthfully, of course. Best way to learn from the history is to acklowledge it truthfully, no matter how ugly, painful, or distasteful a particular history might be so that no one has to repeat the same mistake again.
8 Sarah Jung // Nov 23, 2010 at 7:09 pm
North Korean Economy Watch » More DPRK loggers reportedly running away:
Wow, this story is so sad that it almost made me cry. I want to ask anyone who is embracing the philosophy of communism that is this the best of what communism has to offer? The theory of communism is the by-product of selfish, arrogant, and delusional thinking on the part of people who mistakenly aligns the communism with an imaginary utopia, while insisting that they can think and decide what is best for their fellow men without ever considering a basic human nature and its natural instinct. Since the communism lacks the moral foundation, it is not surprising that it is devoid of capaciaty to evaluate and consider such an elementary cognitive process of what is humanbeing and what motivates an individual in pursuit of happiness. To see a destructive end-point of this grand experiment of communism displayed for all the world to see,, there is no doubt in my heart that it is ostensibly a failure in grand scale, judging by the even modest empirical model of evidence stacked against it. So, let us ponder and mull at the miserable failure of the communism and learn from it, so no one has to waste time, energy or intelligence in chasing an imaginary utopia, which only exists in the minds of delusional thinkers like Karl Marx and others like him. After all, we only live once and a very short one at that.
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