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Impact of Corean Unification
(Updated Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 04:38:55 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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nynonukeisagoodnukeboy,

if only america practices what YOU preach. LOL.

Lemme rephrase your comment to... The greed of America is that it assumes that AMERICANS want a chance at getting a two car garage; 500 channels of TV; a McDonalds on every corner of the world; a big landscaped backyard with automatic sprinklers and a pool... at everyone else's expense. oh wait, they also like telling the rest of the world this -- like a carrot on a stick -- so they can work their asses off for an AMERICAN company conveniently located near 'em. After all, what would it gain Americans if people knew the truth, that dealing with the US means getting the short end of the stick, time and time again.

Back to more relevant issues... I'm not worried at all by north corean nukes because anyone with an ounce of common sense knows they're primarily to counter the US, and not the south corean military or its people. But since you hate nukes so damn much, perhaps you could explain to me and others why the US was so busy building and stockpiling nukes shortly after WWII, with little reason for it. Please tell me. Why would the Americans have built thousands of nukes, when their adversaries, the Soviet Union, had only a very small fraction of America's nuclear capability? Americans started the arms race, Americans are the nuclear aggressors in this world, and Americans were the only ones to nuke human beings, CIVILIANS, not once but TWICE. earth to NYwierdoBoy, please tell us of all the good things Americans want for the rest of the world... I think that's the same garbage they were feeding the indians and the blacks. lots of two car garages there, right? LOL.

Kim Jong Il, America, what the hell is the difference to south coreans? not much. Lemme explain this "perpetual motion machine" of yours... Taking a bunch of free land (that apparently grows on trees) and having others work harder at bringing prosperity to those that don't work. I'm sure RCA thought america is the greatest country in the world, when it flat out stole farnsworth's invention, the television. Merely one example of too damn many, and sadly a much more accurate picture of what drives your "perpetual motion machine." Same goes for your nukes, and your man on the moon. What thanks did the germans get? Zilch. That's what coreans have to look forward to when dealing with the US, which is why they need to drop America like a bad habit.

Much of what makes north corea what it is today, is America. North corea is just giving the US the same medicine that the US has been all to eager at giving to the rest of the world, if only more countries had the guts to do the same.
KiMchi deViL
   Tuesday, November 19, 2002 at 18:27:41 (PST)    [152.163.188.228]
To ka,
Um.... All I was trying to do was to share that article.

Anyways if you want to argue, fine.

>pertaining to geography that you have >evidently never thought about.
how do you know I didn't think about this?

Of course anybody in the region would not like to see a nuclear powered north korea.

>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.
then what do you think Bush is? his reason for the war on Iraq is not good enough. When america went to world war II, the president announced clearly the reasons. Bush is only stating the reason as speculation. Not to mention Bush's family is into oil business.

Your only looking at things from an american perspective. maybe the american government got you so brainwashed? ever consider that? everyone is biased.

====================================
These are your comments from previous post.

>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.)
where is your proof? if you haven't done the math, then you have none, don't you. which makes your fact 1 BS.
also this time around, america is running the show, not the korean government.

>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.
So whats your point? They dumped shit load of chemicals and try to keep it as a secret. There was no warning from the americans. different situation.

>fact3: Some U.S. servicemen rape and >kill south korean women. Another >fact, some U.S. servicement rape and >kill american women.
Americans are there in south korea to protect korea from a military strike, not to kill and rape the people they protect. Also when these things do happen, Korean government do not get at first hand in punishing the criminal. Yes it does happen also in america. good job.

>North Korea's fear of a pre-emptive >South Korean/U.S. attack is a lie.
this is all off of your view. america is planning to attack Iraq right? hmm...

ok now y don't you answer these questions or have you not thought of it.
1. america sells weapons to taiwan, south korea, and japan. T or F?

so y can't north korea sell their weapons? america plays this i can have a gun and i have the responsibilities to have it and no one else. what kind of attitude is that?

2. was america on schedule with the project for buliding the 2 nuclear power reactors on time? T of F?

(you know it takes energy to build such things, and energy is not something north koreans have in abundance)

how would it look from north korean's perspective when america is behind schedule with the reactors?

also your login says ka. does that ka stand for korean american? just guessing.
everyoneshouldhavenukes.
   Tuesday, November 19, 2002 at 07:16:31 (PST)    [220.96.166.245]
everyoneshouldhavenukes

>And for that reason alone, the US will never truly support any reunification measures of the two Koreas in action.

You give US way too much credit. Only reason NK and SK is still divided is that NK wants substnatial US aid (and Japan as well) before they finally drop their pants. After 50 years of holding their breath, they don't want to bend over over without extracting some blood money. Nothing more. But unfortuately, US couln't care less.

Don't you know the average US high school graduate cant spall and ad. Dont you know that the almighty US don't think or plan beyond the next congressional elections? i.e. the attention span of US is very short. And baby, NK has nothing to offer US in the short run except headaches and bellyaching.

K has absolutely zilch strategic value to US in the short run. And short run is how 99% of US geo-strategic decesions are made. Don't give these texan cowboys and arkansas hillbillies any more credit than they deserve.

>America must end its greed
The greed of America is that it assumes that wants everyone in the world deserves a chance at getting a two car garage; 500 channels of TV; a McDonalds on every corner; a big landscaped backyard with automatic sprinklers and a pool...what gumption these Yankee have!

>America must end its greed, as the US has been quite lucky to hit multiple jackpots in the last few centuries.

I think this would hold its argument better if you can prove that the cost of Americanism to the world has been more than its benefits.

Don't be shocked that its luck continues. It has found the perpetual motion machine...the unfettered energies of the rational individual pursuing its liberty and happiness. Think about that...it what other nation's constitution do they actually demand that its citizens to pursuse personal freedom and happiness?

>And no civilization ever escapes this rule

Don't be a party pooper.
nynonukeisagoodnukeboy
   Monday, November 18, 2002 at 20:31:00 (PST)    [24.90.59.127]

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