korean unification studies

‘Reunification cost’ is not an inappropriate term in the context of current ROKG unification policy according to a recent article on korea.net. With an underlying faith that North Korea will not collapse, the article states: Think tanks, major financial institutions and individuals are busy estimating how much it may cost to reunite South and North Korea. They often [...]

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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. [...]

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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 [...]

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Song Min-Soon will visit the United States next month to discuss a Korean War peace treaty to replace the armistice. There has already been, and there will be much more, talk on the role of US forces on the Korean peninsula after the signing of a peace treaty. On Friday, Foreign Minister Song stated that [...]

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I don’t know, but I think this may be going a bit far… Lee Su-Hoon, chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative in an article on Korea.net gives his impressions of Kim Jong Il: Kim Jong-il, the leader of North Korea too showed calmness in his posture. But there was strength in [...]

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Kim Man-Bok the Director of the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) has an interesting piece entitled ‘Ten truths of the inter-Korean summit in words of NIS chief’. Kim refutes some of the popular criticisms regarding the summit and attempts to highlight its significance. Here’s a taste: It was during my visit to Pyongyang in early August [...]

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There’a a good article in the Chosun Ilbo today on the role of investors in contributing to inter-Korean reconciliation. Although I can’t say that I agree with the whole article, which with lines such as: One of the facts confirmed in the second inter-Korean summit is that North Korea is willing to push ahead with [...]

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Ironically, Roh Moo-Hyun has inherited his current capacity to negotiate with North Korea from Park Chung-Hee. Park, believed the key to unification of the nation was in building up the South to match and exceed the North. “In all fields of endeavour, political, economic, diplomatic, social and cultural, our achievements must be overwhelmingly superior to [...]

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