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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Impact of Corean Unification
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:38:55 AM)
t's been over a decade since the Iron Curtain came crashing down in Europe. The Bamboo Curtain is little more than a quaint phrase. Yet the Cold War remains very much alive on the Corean peninsula.
Across a 186-mile DMZ glare opposing armies collectively totaling 1.7 million. By all reckoning the Pyongyang regime should have become ideological roadkill following the collapse of communism. Instead, it remains an impregnable roadblock to the economic integration of East Asia, the world's fastest-growing region.
How can an economic nonentity be such a roadblock?
Consider its location at what should have been the crossroads of East Asia. With 56% of the peninsula's land mass, North Corea separates on one side the world's greatest market and labor pool (China) and the biggest reserve of natural resources (Sibera) from, on the other, two of the world's leading technological and manufacturing nations (Japan and South Corea).
But for Pyongyang's intransigence Seoul would already be linked by railroads and superhighways to Beijing, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and London. All those cities would also be linked to Tokyo via a bridge across the 126-mile strait dividing Shimonoseki from Pusan. The savings in shipping cost and time alone could amount to tens of billions of dollars a year. Such a trans-Eurasian land link would accelerate the cultural and economic integration of not only East Asia, but the world. In the process, the Corean peninsula would shed the burden of financing the world's most heavily fortified frontier and become the center of the global economy.
That's the vision dancing before the eyes of farsighted statesmen and business leaders pushing for the political leaps of faith needed to keep Pyongyang taking its unsteady baby steps toward opening North Corea.
But skeptics and pessimists abound. Even a loose confederation with the North would only burden and destabilize South Corea's economy and political system, they argue. For decades to come the impact on the global economy would be entirely negative as investors and customers begin shunning the uncertainties, denying capital and trading partners to hundreds of world-class Corean manufacturers. The ultimate result, argue the naysayers, would be to throw a monkey wrench into an alignment that has allowed three decades of strong growth for East Asia.
What is the likely impact of Corean unification?
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WHAT YOU SAY
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everyoneshouldhavenukes
Um. Have you ever once in your life really thought about whether China, Japan, or Russia wants to see Korean Unification? You think U.S. is the greatest threat to Korean unification, but China, Japan, and Russia has greater reason to see the 2 Koreas split up than U.S. for obvious reasons pertaining to geography that you have evidently never thought about.
Furthermore, there are certain unconcsionable American conservatives who would much rather see South Korea unify the Korean peninsula through bloody warfare, rather than have North Korea produce nuclear weapons.
Also a point in fact, you have not thought about is the fact that China has been very displeased with Kim Jong Il's announcement that Chinese national Yang Bin would head the North Korean SAR in Sinuiju. Please tell me, what makes you think Beijing wants to see a nuclear North Korea. For the sake of International Socialist coalition?
For the sake of national sovereignty of Iraqi, Irani, and North Korean people??? It might be true that arabs and persians alike may hate Americans, but Saddam Hussein and the Ayatollah aren't democratically elected leader. Neither is Kim Jong Il. National sovereginty? You mean the right of these few military dictator to rule without international challenge to their regime. This is what it's about.
American imperialism? Give me a break.
ka
Monday, November 18, 2002 at 06:50:58 (PST)
[168.103.180.35]
KommiD,
Hmm too easy of a shot here,
> capitalism and communism can coexist?
Like oil and water, I say. In order for any social org to be stable, it has to find a way to keep growing economically. Histroy has proven tath the greatest wealth buidling system is capitalism. Communism is for the laggards and dependents and capitalism is for producers and independets - too great of a difference in philosophy - even if the NE Asia start out co-existing, ultimately there will be an unsurmountable breach.
KD, for the record, I do agree with you that the hairier beasts seems to have been given that extra helping of agresssor genes over the smoother skined civil animals. Happy?
> History lesson: the coreans captured some of first europeans to land there,
It you with the selective cognigence. Yup, they captured few of the hairy guys that washed up on the shore.
>Corea is, and forever will be, morally and ethically above the United States!
There you go, finally, your true red/blue black/white colors...you're a corean cultural xingoist and a commie to boot! Hah!
but seriously, thats easy to say, as long as one keeps to oneself, like a hermit - never harm but never contribute either. If you want to stay a virgin, you can be as pure as you want, and the worl will pass you by...tell that to the mis-guided commies in NK.
Americanism is an system of governing, culture and nation managment that was invented only 200 years ago...look at the results buddy...it resulted in the greatest amount of personal liberty and wealth in human history.
NYomebuys
Saturday, November 16, 2002 at 13:11:01 (PST)
[24.90.59.127]
American international politics is pretty bad in my opinion. Read this article.
http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/why_saddam.htm
Just as there are mortals who will sell out their nation to the aggressors for an easy way out of misery and retaliation, there will always be a few who will lead the repressed nation to survival or attempt to triumph.
If one takes a moment to read history of the Korean peninsula, one would readily understand why North Korea exists. That same person can intelligently argue that North Korea is the surviving Korea of the past, and that the South is simply a lost country, which serves as a quasi-territory of the conqueror-namely the United States. After all, The US will not relinquish its military base in South Korea even though most of the people's sentiments are against its occupation. For the US, South Korea provides them with a foothold in NE Asia, ready to deploy an offensive to not only North Korea but also China, if need be.
For the Americans, the 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea is a major tool serving its tight control and hegemony of the World in the Eastern front. And for that reason alone, the US will never truly support any reunification measures of the two Koreas in action. In this sense, the way the US treats the Koreans is quite different than the way the Germans were viewed. The Germans were simply viewed with more dignity and respect, while the Koreans are viewed simply as subjects of the American Empire.
The scenario the US would like best is the status quo - a divided Korea, in which the South is required to build up its military capability and update its ordnances according to US demands every year for purchasing their list of "approved" weapons for the South to purchase from the US. This is an ideal scenario for the US, which derives a firm base for its military in the South and also generates recurring income from its sales of weapons to the South Koreans to "protect" itself from the "evil" North. One can only wonder which side is actually evil and also quite reasonably understand why the North feels it needs to arm itself to the teeth in order to secure its survival from the US imperialism.
For Americans, people like Saddam, Castro, and Kim Jong-il are like thorns in the otherwise smooth landscape of its view of an American Empire in this World. But for the few surviving people represented by such leaders, they represent the only hope for existence as independent sovereignties and to retain their own destiny. I am one who believes the Americans have reached its peak, as the World will tolerate no more of its hypocrisy and nonsense pretending always to be the victims when the real victims are elsewhere.
A smart America will refrain from an overzealous continuation of its imperialistic reach in the World. After all, the US is already the richest country this World has ever seen. And one can argue who wouldn't if one were to obtain the essentials of life for free or next-to-nothing like the US is accustomed to getting, namely oil, land, and labor.
Just like a veteran gambler will quit when he has hit the jackpot, America must end its greed, as the US has been quite lucky to hit multiple jackpots in the last few centuries. Otherwise, the House will eventually win again. And then the Empire will see a turning point downwards, as fast as its ascent upwards. This is simply the law of the World. And no civilization ever escapes this rule.
everyoneshouldhavenukes.
Saturday, November 16, 2002 at 06:41:19 (PST)
[219.161.98.231]
Kimchi Devil,
You seem to be Korean, but your world view does absolutely no good for either south or north Koreans.
Let's discuss some facts about North Korea before we go on:
fact1: North Korea restricts the movement of her people WITHIN the country, as well as traveling abroad. Can't find food in Hamhung? Too bad, you have to stay there. (This is very much like feudal Chosun Korea, which did not allow peasant farmers to roam around.)
fact2: North Korea does not allow private companies including newspaper and tv stations. All forms of mass communication within the country is directly controlled by the party. The party is controlled by Kim Jong Il and the military.
fact3: North Korea kidnaps Japanese as well as South Korean civillians for espionage purposes. Suredly you have read that Kim Jong Il admitted these past wrongs, even though he claims that he wasn't responsible even though he was in charge of North Korea's intelligence at that time.
fact4: The population is stratified according to party loyalty, creating different classes based on family backgrounds. (Much like Chosun Korea which the communist claims, they are against.) Those with poor backgrounds are allocated poorer jobs. Those seeking to switch jobs are prevented, as all capital and labor are controlled by the state. In a true sense of revolution, the traditional bourgeosie are now the slaves and the slaves have become the masters.
fact5: North Korea does not allow the meeting of separated Korean families to prevent the spread of information(or if you are pro-communist, to stop enemy espionage) and to have a greater leverage in diplomatic relations to South Korea.
fact6: North Korea operates political gulags for those who break the above rules.
Now I can go on and on. But these should suffice. Let's talk about your most hated America.
fact1: U.S. tank ran over 2 south korean children. Also a fact, a U.S. tank ran over 2 U.S. military servicemen during training, not too long ago. Also a point is that despite SOFA, many of these military servicement do face prosecution by South Korean government. I haven't done the math, but I can bet you more Koreans and Korean Americans kill people while drinking and driving in U.S. then U.S. servicemen kill South Korean civillians during military exercizes. (Of which, the principal beneficiary, are the people in South Korea.)
fact2: U.S. military installations pump chemicals into rivers in Seoul. Also a fact, U.S. military installations pump chemicals into rivers in U.S. I know. I live on Long Island, and Brookhaven national laboratory and the military industrial complex next to it have contaminated the surroundings to the point that you are not allowed to eat fish from that area.
fact3: Some U.S. servicemen rape and kill south korean women. Another fact, some U.S. servicement rape and kill american women.
fact4: U.S. servicemen frequent prostitutes. Another fact, south korean men frequent prostitutes--and also South Korean government endorses the traficking of women from poorer world to substitute the use of Korean prostitutes for foreign prostitutes. Prostitution is illegal in the People's Paradise and many are in fact executed, but notice that many North Korean women flee to China and become sex slaves rather than starve to death under Kim Jong Il.
Does U.S. have an overwhelming influence on South Korea? Yes. without a doubt. Is U.S. the principal enemy of South Korea? Explain to me how. Today South Korea has a real democracy and it's industry and technology rival even America's. It seems to me, that's a tough thing to accomplish when big bad Whitehouse is trying to destroy the Korean people with thousands of nuclear warheads pointing at Seoul.
Ok, now we got that out of the way, let's just think about what the heck is going on.
Under 1994 agreement, North would cease the production of fissile plutonium and the U.S., S. Korea, and Japan would provide North with oil and 2 "safe" nuclear reactors. What happened since then? The North switched to uranium based technology, while the allies have stalled the construction of the 2 reactors while stalling the shipment of oil. This is really nothing new, as every Korean I know expected something like this to happen. Bill Clinton's aim was to slow the N. Korean progress for nuclear weapons. Which he did in fact accomplish despite conservative accusation that he screwed up.
Not too long time ago, I was posting here that we needed to apply a much more fierce policy against North Korea, barring invasion. In case you have not been paying attention to South Korean polls, conservative Lee Hoi Chang is leading his rivals.
What happened to Kim Jong Il? Kim Jong Il thought he could gain Japanese conpensation through diplomatic finesse with Koizumi. He evidently thought that returning 5 kidnapped Japanese would be regarded as a small token of trust rather than a catalyst for the Japanese public's realization that in fact, Kim Jong Il is not a nice human being. After admitting that his government has kidnapped 5 Japanese nationals, and allowing to visit their homeland close to 2 decades. Now Japanese government is not allowing them to go back to North Korea--and get this--Kim Jong Il is DEMANDING their IMMEDIATE return to NORTH KOREA for further diplomacy to go on!! If America kidnapped NORHT KOREAN citizens, I wonder if YOU would find this situation as preposterous as I do. Yes, Japan in fact enslaved thousands and thousands of Koreans which they STILL have not been forthright about. But to the credit to the Japanese, they have been sending tons of rice to feed the North Koreans since. I would expect that a morally superior "paradise on earth" like North Korea wouldn't do such things--but then again isnt't this what we expect from kim jong il?
what are the policy implications?? Since the beginning of Sunshine policy, North Korea has yielded very little in terms of economic reformation or human rights. Nuclear/Missile policy is something that U.S. cares about for it's own security. But because U.S. feels threatened, whitehouse is forcing North Korea to choose which path to take.
North Korea's fear of a pre-emptive South Korean/U.S. attack is a lie. There is very little incentive for U.S. to lose money and lives to protect South Korea by starting a war with North Korea. Furthermore, there is a reluctance on the part of South Korea to deal with the mess Kim Jong Il is leaving behind for reunification. Kim Jong Il knows that South Korea and U.S. are more afraid of war than he.
If U.S. does what Kimchi devil wants her to do, what does this mean? U.S. no longer provide nuclear umbrella to South Korea, that would be the first thing. No U.S. naval and aerial support to South Korea. Kim Jong already has nukes, and without nuclear support from U.S., South must go nuclear too. Gee weez, that sounds really good, North, South, China, Russia all nuclear, and pretty soon japan goes nuclear, then what do we get? From Japan to Pakistan are nuclear countries, with countries like North Korea and Pakistan on the brink of collapse, I wonder what would happen to the nukes IF they DO collapse. But you don't really care, because it's America's fault.
More carrots or more stick?
Again we come to this question. We should be talking about carrots and sticks, not whether big bad white america is trying to put down all the yellow man. I'm getting so sick of all the uninformed fascists. How many of you guys actually read south korean newspapers??
For a more indepth discussion, I urge you to visit some of these sites. they have english links.
www.donga.com
www.joins.com
www.korealink.co.kr
www.yomiuri.co.jp
www.asahi.co.jp
Since you at least have some healthy skepticism of mainstream news and allude to ideas that North and South korea must unite on their own terms, please see www.kimsoft.com
but no matter how you look at the big picture, it doesn't change the fact that North Korea's biggest problem is a pot-bellied Son of God named Kim Jong Il.
ka
Friday, November 15, 2002 at 12:57:11 (PST)
[168.103.180.35]
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