I've talked to Korean friends and they don't want reunification to happen, at least the younger generation do not. After living a life seeing nothing but hatred come from the other side as well as unprovoked attacks on innocent civilians, it's not surprising that that opinion exists. Certainly, the younger generation does not remember a unified Korea at all.
It seems like the rest of the world wants them to reunite, but they don't want to.
As a South Korean, I find it hard to completely agree with the above statement. It is true that the desire for unification is not as strong as they were.. say.. 30 years ago. As you have pointed out, the younger generation in particular, have no experience of a unified korean peninsula and are not as eager for a unified Korea. But to say that Koreans "don't want" a unified Korea while the "the world wants them to unite" is a gross misrepresentation.
Just for the sake of correctness, a quick google search will reveal that a significant proportion (often majority) of the Korean population still feel that reunification should take place (as an example, according to Asan Institute this figure was at 63.5% as of April 2014). I hasten to add however that the younger generations (those that are below 40) are significantly less eager. Another thing to realise is that majority of Koreans do NOT consider North Koreans as an enemy. In fact (quoting again from the figures released by Asan Institute), 77.6% of the Korean population had either positive (43.8%) or neutral (23.8%) stance towards North Korea.
The road to Korean unification is a difficult one for sure. I cannot disagree with the comment that some of the issues regarding Korean unification lie with the South Korean attitude towards North Korea. But, as many have mentioned, there are other powers at work here too. Chinese and US interests (as well as that of Russia and Japan to a lesser extent) are major stumbling blocks that neither South Korean nor the North Korean governments can ignore.
Being a South Korean, it is my single greatest dream to see a unified Korea. It is painful to see that there are those from my own country that do not feel the same way. It is even more painful to see how powerless we are to shape our own country's destiny. Throughout history, Korea (unified or not) has often been used as a political pawn by its stronger neighbours. I hope, and pray, that things turn out somewhat differently and that both Koreas can unify peacefully to end this status quo.
Thank you. That's a very refreshing comment to hear. I don't believe I really meant to say that South Koreans see the North as an enemy but I can see it being understandable that one would feel more lukewarm about being reunited with a group that seems to hate you so much. I think that's why I really appreciate you saying this, because you dream for peace while many see and experience strife. That's very admirable.
Honestly, I personally think it would be almost romantic to see your country reunited. However, I'm not Korean, so I have no right to tell you reunion is right, or not right, and I'm concerned that sometimes, us as westerners seem to assume that this is best for this or that country, even when those in that country wish for something else. Either way, I wish you all the best.
good point! my bad. just checked the source. it is 53.8% and 23.8% respectively. Would make the correction on the original post but seems that it's too late for me to make the correction now.
I'm a South Korean and can only partially agree with you. Yes, some of us don't want it but definitely much more young people long for the reunification. Except some extremists, most of the naysayers oppose it because of the economic burden of it not abhorrence for them you mentioned.
Secondly, I don't know the whole opinions of the rest of the world but for the stakeholders like China, Japan and the U.S., I don't think they really want us to reunite. Korea has played a role of a bulwark for superpowers. For the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the beginning, and now China took the position of the Soviet Union. After the unification they will lose their influence on Korea. And Japan will hate its rival (industrially and historically) gaining huge resource for future advancement. I mean, no one can exactly predict the results and effects of the unification. Your opinion about the intentions of other countries' heads seems too naive for me.
To sum up, most of us want to achieve the unification as long as we carefully plan it so as to minimize the financial burden. Probably almost all Koreans agree that the unification will make the country much more powerful in the long run though it'll deteriorate the economy in the early years. However, I don't find we can achieve it in this century because of diplomatic reasons as well as internal ones. Too many world powers are related to it so it's an extremely hard problem to solve. I consider it one of the open problems in diplomacy like the ones in math.
> And Japan will hate its rival (industrially and historically) gaining huge resource for future advancement.
Just look at how much of an impact reunification had on the economy of Germany. And they were not inheriting millions of half-starved, ill-educated, brain-washed people in a country which has been living in autarky for decades. If the only thing which mattered to Japanese leadership was keeping Korea down, they would push for reunification at all cost.
germany is the current european leader also because of the reunification, and in fact many people feared this would happen before the reunification (i.e. former italian 4-times-premier Andreotti is quoted as saying "I love germany, that's why I'd prefer to have two of them").
One thing is to say that German has the best economy of the Eurozone, which is a fact we can all agree on. Another thing entirely is to attribute this to reunification, considering how the situation is in the Eastern half of Germany.
You're conflating your Korean friends with the entire younger generation of South Korea. That's like saying all Americans supported the Iraq War because Bush was elected twice, or that all Russians support invading Ukraine.
Yes, the trend amongst the younger generation disfavors unification, but a sizable percentage of the younger generation still supports unification (49% of twenty-somethings in 2010 [1]).
Domestic sentiments inside South Korea are very complex (as is with any country). For example, some South Koreans strongly oppose the US military presence in the peninsula, while others greatly support it (and others simply don't care). Contemporary South Korean culture is very unique, and concepts of nationalism are very strong across the age demographics. But even the various forms of nationalism that exists is complex.
>>It seems like the rest of the world wants them to reunite, but they don't want to.
This simple statement is simply not true. Or at best, it's incomplete. Once again, the region's relationships are very complex, and the desires of the various actors don't necessarily indicate a want for unification. US-China relations, US-Japan relations, Japan-Korea relations, Korea-China relations, etc. all have its nuances that make Korean unification a tricky event. It's hard to say that any one actor truly "wants" unification when they're all looking out for their self-interest (China doesn't want any more US military and influence in the region, US wants stability and prioritizes de-nuclearization of the peninsula, Japan's strategies are conflicting within their own domestic ranks, etc.)
First of all, I thank you for responding and bringing statistics to this conversation. You are right that I seemed to have generalize what my friends said to all young Koreans, at least in the way I wrote it. I should have been more careful with what I said.
I think the article you linked actually gives ammunition to my claim that as time passes and memories fade with them, reunification is becoming less popular. I mean, the headline ends with the clause: "dreams of unity fade into past for young South Koreans." One of the 20-somethings interviewed here opposes unification based on economic and financial grounds. As another poster commented, though, a majority still do support reunification.
With respect to my saying the rest of the world wants them to reunite, I admit that was hyperbole. The reason I said it was that every single comment on this story so far started with the assumption that reunification was right and we want it to happen[1]. I think something closer to the truth is that a lot of us in the western world don't necessarily want to see reunification happen as much as we want the North Korean government to fail. Anyone who has heard about the famines and seen pictures of children dead in the street would want that. Reunification, of course, would be the "natural" step after that. However, it's ironic that for many South Koreans, they are simply indifferent, or outright opposed to the idea.
So, I what I was pointing to was the fact that while a lot of us in the west seem to think reunification is the end goal, a significant number of Koreans, the actual people who we are discussing, do not favor it. I felt it was fair to point that out since the conversation at the time seemed to have hinged on the assumption that it was the right thing and the South Koreans themselves wants to go along with it.
Somewhat related, but this [2] has always stuck with me. This video was aired back during the time when tensions were running high and CNN was ablaze with talk about Kim Jong-Un and the NK state-run media said this and that, etc. At that time, I was considering studying in SK for grad school, and the typical response involved some shock that I'd want to go to a warzone. It's ironic that in SK itself, people were much more interested in their pop culture, their daily lives, than the hatred spewing from up North that was littering our news articles here in the west.
[1] So by "the rest of the world", I meant, "you all in the room", the kind of hyperbole you let out when you want to say a dissenting word against the common opinion.
>>I think the article you linked actually gives ammunition to my claim that as time passes and memories fade with them, reunification is becoming less popular.
Yes, that article is stating that the trend amongst younger Koreans is moving away from reunification, but that's actually been an established fact for the past couple years now. If you read the article carefully, the trend was newsworthy at the time because reunification used to be a nearly unanimous sentiment in Korea, whereas now it is merely a majority sentiment.
I wasn't refuting your statement about the trend amongst the younger generation. I was refuting your generalization that the entire younger generation doesn't want reunification. It is much more complex than that, and there is still a sizable number of younger Koreans that still do want reunification. Nationalism in Korean culture is strong and Korean nationalism usually entails a reunification aspect of it.
It is also true that the primary concerns voiced by the opposition groups to reunification is economical, and they have been very vocal about it in recent years. But being vocal doesn't mean that it is representative of an entire demographic (e.g. squeaky wheel gets the grease).
>>So, I what I was pointing to was the fact that while a lot of us in the west seem to think reunification is the end goal, a significant number of Koreans, the actual people who we are discussing, do not favor it.
There is a disconnect between what the Western media portrays to its Western audience about Korean reunification and the actions and goals of the Western governments. Yes, the average US citizen might assume that the US wants Korean reunification, but the State Department and the many other various US foreign policy groups can have very different goals and strategies. First and foremost, the US will always care most about stability in the region - if maintaining the status quo means stability (i.e stability without reunification), then so be it. Furthermore, the US's current priority in Korea is denuclearization of the peninsula. Denuclearization is only tangentially related with reunification, and the strategies for denuclearization do not necessarily require reunification.[1]
>>It's ironic that in SK itself, people were much more interested in their pop culture, their daily lives
It isn't ironic at all, if you look at the history. The cycle of escalation/de-escalation by North Korea is so obvious now that most South Koreans don't even bat an eye with each provocation. Once in a while, an unfortunate event happens where there are some casualties, but most South Koreans know and believe that it won't escalate any further because an all out war would be disastrous to both sides. If you do a quick news search of North Korean provocations, there is a similar pattern since the mid-90s after Kim Jong-Il came in to power. Here's a headline [2] from 1999 that sounds like it could also be from 2002 or 2004 or 2009 or today.
I quote Dr. Jim Walsh, "I think we're just going to see more of the same, and we've been in this cycle a long time now, where we have provocation, followed by resolutions and naval exercises, military drills, and around and around it goes."[3]
It's been like this for over 20 years. The reason why it makes the news every time is because this cycle is not sustainable and will collapse one day. We just don't know when.
Actually, if you're really curious about the North Korean situation, Dr. Jim Walsh is an excellent person to start with. He's an American scholar with very good insights about the region (as well as foreign policy security, etc.)
Also, if you really want your mind blown, check out this photographer's project.[4] Yes, a lot of the craziness you hear about North Korea is true, and there is a lot of propaganda and suffering. But it's not all doom and gloom. I believe that once we stop looking at North Korea as the "other side" and start looking at them as people, we can start effectively engaging them.
It isn't a question of desire. If the economy of the north collapses and millions of people are on the verge of famine, the south needs a plan to maintain some sort of order.
Perhaps then, the question is how much of the responsibility lies with the South after such a thing occurs. Would SK simply annex NK or would something like a joint/international humanitarian effort to help NK survive and may be start its own government be better?
Honestly, I don't have any right to say one way or the other is right because I'm not even Korean, I just think that we in the west need to stop taking as a hypothesis that if NK collapses that it is SK's responsibility. I think it is up to the South Koreans to decide whether they want that, and not us [1].
[1] And yes, that's what this article is about, the government is preparing for this contingency, but as we in the west know, our government doesn't always do what we want.
Not just the South, but China too. North Korean refugees are already a concern for China.[1] If the economy or the government collapses in North Korea, it's not hard to imagine chaos spilling over in to both countries.
I wouldn't think that "order" is what they'd like to maintain. But rather, keep the humanitarian crisis just past it's border from resulting in millions dying.
It seems like the rest of the world wants them to reunite, but they don't want to.