10121 D-1
In 1945, Korea finally eluded from control of Japan, the loser of WWII. However, Korea instituted two different governments, one in the north, and another one in the south. Then, in 1948, Korea practically divided into two by 38th parallel. After the Korean War in 1950, a truce line has established and an area of 2km on both sides south and north from it has set up as the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. Now, on the Korean peninsula, there are actually two nations: North Korea, with the Communist Party; and South Korea with the Democratic Party.
Now about 60 years have passed after this heartbreaking incident, and there are numerous efforts going on to unite these two Koreas-such as South-North Korean summit talks, the search campaigns for families separated, etc. However, the gap between the two Koreas has been deepened too much so it seems that it will take a lot of efforts and time to actually settle down after unification of the two nations. Therefore, we should learn from unification from other countries like Germany, Yemen, Vietnam, etc.
East and West Germany were reunited in 1990 having been divided division after being a bummer of WWII. Similar to us, East Germany had Communist Party, and the West Germany had the Democratic Party. They used assimilation to unite, and had a lot of interchanges for 41 years before unification. Therefore, Germany accomplished a peaceful unification by understanding through interaction after a lot of preparation. On the other hand, Yemen, which was divided by Great Britain and Turkey at the end of 19th century, had a lot of aftereffects compared to Germany. North Yemen had Democratic System and the South had a Communist System. They were politically united in 1990, however, divided again by civil wars. Then North Yemen reunited militarily in 1994. This unification was an armed unification, which did not consider reality. Therefore, unification caused a huge gap between people after unification and resulted in instability. Vietnam also had political unification by North Vietnam with Communist Party in 1975, since South Vietnam with no support of people. They had a lot of wars from 1954 till unification by North Vietnam, which wanted to occupy the North.
We can apply these cases from other countries to our unification. The problem is, that North and South Korea were divided for too long a period compared to these other countries. Also, we are different from those cases because Korea is a racially homogeneous nation, which had been one country for a long time. Therefore, Koreans have the sense of national homogeneity different from countries with many ethnic groups combined together. That is why so many Koreans want unification although they do not have any information about the other half of Korea. It had been tradition that Koreans call everything belongs to them as ��us��. Our family, our country, our mother��. Maybe this is the main reason why Koreans want unity. People want unification because they feel that the other half Korea is part of ��our�� country. Not only this. People want unification for many other reasons.
Different from South Korea, North Korea has a huge amount of natural resources under their territory. If the Koreas become one Korea, the technology from South Korea can cultivate these resources and draw a great economic growth. Economic growth will not make Korea difficult to become an advanced country in short time. Also, unification can save national defense expenditures because there will be no need of military strength used to attack each other in a United Korea. These saved expenses can be used in improving the standard of improving the quality of life or education.
However, there will be a lot of aftereffects, after unification. Since Korea has been divided for a long period, overcoming huge gaps of language and of concepts between people will be hard. Although the two Koreas use same language, the Korean in both countries has changed in different ways. It��s because South Korea accepts loanwords and North Korea does not. North Korea changes every single word from other languages into native tongues. The gap between concepts may be inevitable since people in both Koreas have lived under different governments for about 60 years. During this period, individual awareness has changed spontaneously and now overcoming with this gap will seeming very difficult. Also, the gulf between rich and poor will deepen seriously after unification. Since economic conditions between South and North Korea have huge discrepancy, South Korea will have to help out the living standard of North Korea. While supporting the economy of the North Korea, the economic condition of South Koreans will fall and cause confusion in the society. In the case of Germany, people had to pay taxes 12 times higher compared to the time before unification. Since the gap between the two Koreas is deeper than the one that existed in East and West Germany, it Korea may have more difficulties than the case of Germany. In addition, the demolition of DMZ will cost a lot too. The whole of Korea will be in big trouble if these problems occur at once.
To prevent this from happening, we should elaborately plan and estimate clearly the cost of establishing a united Korea. We should compare the cases of other countries to our own condition and formulate plans that can cause the least aftereffects. To become a unitary state as a single race, we should increase the amount of interchange between each other��s cultures. Designating a week as a unification week annually can be an idea. In this week, people in both Koreas would consider and study about unification, then participate in many programs over the week. There can be the performance of North Koreans in South Korea and South Koreans in North Korea. In this performance, performers perform dramatize relating to unification, and prepare for the time to experience their cultured differences from another Korea to listeners. At the end of week, the government sponsor meetings relating to unification, such as drawing a poster about unification, writing an essay of individual��s opinion about unification, and writing a journal about one��s life during this week of unification.
I judge that giving time is important for people both in south and the north to have straight awareness, because a lot of people do not want unification. They overlook a lot of positive effects from unification. Many specialists expect that Korea will economically grow magnificently after overcoming the confusion caused by unification-just like the miracle of Han River in 1970��s. I am sure that even though there are may be many negative side effects after unification, a united Korea will overcome with them and become a glorious unitary state.
Yewon Yoo