korean unification studies

The International Crisis Group has a decent briefing on what they expect LMB will do for the Korean peninsula. Pretty much the same old stuff, including:
Lee is expected to continue South Korea’s efforts at rapprochement with North Korea but to press more firmly for reciprocity than his predecessor. He has outlined a plan to narrow […]

[Read more →]

Many suspected that differences in North Korea policy between a Lee Myung-Bak administration and the Roh Moo-Hyun administration were going to be largely cosmetic. Most thought it as an open secret that North Korea policy would largely remain the same… Stability is after all, much more valuable to most South Koreans than any chance of a North Korean […]

[Read more →]

What does this long list of South Korean ministers responsible for unification tell you? Has there ever been a period in which the civil service has been led by a minister for unification for more than a few years? Or does it say more about the position of ‘unification minister’ and the fact that policy […]

[Read more →]

Good article by Andrei Lankov on Korean unification over at Asia Times. To sum it all up - Romania style collapse is coming soon to country near you (if you’re in South Korea). Give it a read!

Sphere: Related Content

[Read more →]

 
In all seriousness though, the meeting between Roh Moo-Hyun and Nong Duc Manh, Secretary-General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, after the latter’s visit to North Korea is quite significant.
Vietnam could be held up as a model for North Korea. Although the fundamental economic conditions are very different between Vietnam and North Korea (in particular labor […]

[Read more →]

The differing views of the United States and South Korea on the nuclear issue were very evident at the press conference after talks between ROK Defense Minister Kim Jang-Soo and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The key point to make is that Gates believes that the anticipated resolution of the nuclear issue reduces the threat posed by North Korea. Kim […]

[Read more →]

With estimates on the cost of unification providing such alarming figures (as in the last post), it is natural for people to wonder where the money will come from. A paper by Yang Un-Chol at the Sejong Institute gives a good summary of how this could be achieved. Amongst the methods, he lists:

Inter-Korean cooperation projects. Basically, […]

[Read more →]

An ROK National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has estimated that unification could cost around 1 trillion dollars - yes, 1 trillion - with the cost increasing further over time.
The report notes the difference in timing. If unification occurs in 2015, it could cost around $858 billion over 10 years to absorb the North. If unification occurs in 2030, it could cost […]

[Read more →]