With Kim Jong Un’s historic visit to South Korea, it is tempting to imagine a quickly reunified Korean nation becoming the latest world power- South Korea’s Kias, Hyundais and Samsungs combined with North Korea’s nuclear arsenal in one country. Think of an Asian version of France or the UK: economic powers that posses a rare nuclear arsenal.
But the current -fluid- reality is that Korean reunification is still a ‘long way off’. The primary reason for this is that South Korea is a Western style democracy, while North Korea is a Communist state with an entrenched dynasty. In the unlikely event of an imminent unification, which side’s political system will give way for the other?
One thing is clear: Even if Kim Jong Un decided to take a hefty retirement package from the South, hang up his boots and go sailing in a yatch all year round, China would really not want to allow the North leave its orbit. And the US would undoubtedly feel the same way about letting the South play second fiddle.
So, the only way for the Koreas to be allowed to unify is if they reach a middle ground between Western democracy and Communism. Again I ask: who would give way to whom?
If Kim Jong Un wasn’t interested in continuing the Kim dynasty, he would have started a Gorbachev-like Perestroika and Glasnost at the beginning of his regime. But instead of that, he carried out a bloody purge of his leadership, signalling his commitment to perpetuating the Paektu Dynasty.
Furthermore, it would be overly simplistic to compare the Korean situation to that of East and West German just before reunification, because in the latter case, East Germany had collapsed following the collapse of its super ally, the Soviet Union. But in the case of North Korea, its super ally China has not collapsed, but rather is growing from strength to strength.
So, the closest thing that I can advice the Koreans to adopt for now is a Commonwealth of the Koreas, where both Korea’s adopt a one-system-two-countries approach. A sort of Entente Cordial.
The Case For A Commonwealth Of The Koreas
