The Great Korea Thread

[politicus]

South Korea now has a contingency plan of economic reforms to be implemented in case of Korean unification.

If it happens South Korean tax payers are in for a nightmare. BRD was 2-3 richer than DDR. South Korea is 14-30 times richer than North Korea depending on how you count. The largest wealth gap between two countries with a shared border.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/11/dream-korean-unification-2014111565039906410.html

[Bacon King]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

[politicus]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

Option two, but I don't even think they care that much about controlling it. Any scenario in which North Korea would remain stable after a regime change, open its borders and economy and develop gradually on its own terms would be preferable to getting the responsibility after a collapse.

[Cory]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

Option 2, but it would require the intervention of Alien Space Bats for that to happen.

[Simfan34]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

Option 2, but it would require the intervention of Alien Space Bats for that to happen.

Of what?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

Option 2, but it would require the intervention of Alien Space Bats for that to happen.

Of what?

AH.com term for the impossible.

[politicus]

Putting a price tag on unification: "Around 500 billion $"

http://news.yahoo.com/korea-puts-economic-unification-tab-500-billion-031557279.html

[Simfan34]

What would be preferable for South Korea, if they had a choice: a North Korea publicly seeking reunification on the South's terms, or a North Korean puppet state that remains independent but the South controls behind the scenes?

Your latter option sounds a lot less like a "puppet state" per se than it does a "gradual/controlled reunification", which is what I think is most likely to happen as is: that the North becomes a de facto Southern protectorate after the "fall of the regime" (whatever that entails) in a nominal confederation but essentially separate from the South. Over a period of 10-20 years North would be developed to a level where full reunification would be non-cataclysmic. 

The Northerners would still experience a dramatic rise in liberties, their standard of living, but would at the same time be used to (for a time) by sheer custom to curtailments on their rights that most would consider excessive but would prevent the sort of catastrophe most imagine happening in the case of a sudden reunification (for example, I imagine people needing a permit, much as is the case with the Chinese Houkou system, to move to the South). I easily see the North, which was historically the more industrially active of the two regions, becoming the next massive center for low cost manufacturing.

[politicus]

The most likely regime "change" in North Korea is a military takeover with a Burma style social order. In this case South Korean conglomerates would invest and be quite influential , but the government would still be very adverse to outright Southern political interference.

[Simfan34]

The most likely regime "change" in North Korea is a military takeover with a state Burma style social order. In this case South Korean conglomerates would invest and be quite influential , but the government would still be very adverse to outright Southern political interference.

Well if that happened then yes, that is what would happen. But isolation has its benefits- clearly, or else they would have changed by now; Burma was pretty isolated under the military as well, under Than Shwe and so forth (I assume you mean Burma before a few years ago).

[Beezer]

North Korea has defeated James Franco. Who will be next?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

South Korea's dark descent back into authoritarianism continues.

[politicus]

South Korea's dark descent back into authoritarianism continues.

That's worrying (and also stupid, since it's such a small and unimportant party). Your headline is hyperbolic (as usual), but the human rights situation is definitely getting worse.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

They got 10% in the last parliamentary election; hardly minor.

[politicus]

They got 10% in the last parliamentary election; hardly minor.

In the grand scheme of things it is not a party that could "threaten" the South Korean established order. They have a limited electoral potential (among other things because they are too "Nork-friendly").

[politicus]

I suppose South Korea is now at BRD post-1956, pre-Willy Brandt democracy level. Not authoritarian, but not really a full democracy either and the reasons for banning those guys are far less reasonable than the arguments behind the Cold War ban on the KPD.

[politicus]

99.97% turnout in the North Korean local elections. The Norks truly are world leaders in get out the vote operations!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/20/north-korean-elections-draw-9997-turnout-says-state-media

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I wonder whom Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il voted for.

[2952-0-0]

I wonder whom Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il voted for.

You counterrevolutionary traitor, the Great Leader and the Dear Leader do not need to vote. Even in death, they still guide the glorious Korean people to vote to continue their glorious policies as personified by their glorious successor!

Now this way to the train station...

[politicus]

NK celebrates the 70th birthday of the Workers' Party of Korea. Time to retire... (nah, but one can dream).



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11921914/North-Korea-gears-up-for-70th-anniversary-of-Workers-Party-in-pictures.html