English Literature

World news has been awash with news regarding tensions in the Korean Peninsula, which is the most militarized peninsula in the world. It is hard to believe that under a century ago South Korea and North Korea were a unified state sharing the same fears and destiny. Thus, I find the Korean case to be intriguing and that is why I would like to do a bit of an investigation in to the dynamics affecting these two countries.  These two nations have grown so much apart that one would think the name Korea is a mere expression of geographical consideration like the larger American continent. The two Korean republics are in a perpetual state of tension, but some optimists are still of the opinion that they can be reunited. Is that possible While I agree that the Korean people have a shared history, years of estrangement has led to vast political, economic and social differences that reconciling them would be near impossible.

North Koreans have never participated in a substantive democratic process in their lives. In fact, they hardly understand the title of their leader Kim Jong il because the title president was rested with the death of Kims father, who was henceforth christened eternal president. These northerners would suffer a culture shock if they were asked to go in to an election to elect a president or an equivalent to Kim. South Koreans on the other hand, have had pluralism since 1980s, and even before democracy, their country leadership exercised tolerance to social pressure groups such as student unions. More often than not, when democracy is introduced in a society, it faces teething problems, the most prominent manifestation of the problem being violence. The problems may however be aggravated if there is an awareness gap between the resident populations as this would lead to a feeling of unfairness by one  of the groups. There is a huge awareness gap between the North and the South and the consequences of subjecting the two to a unified democratic process would be too grave to contemplate.

Nonetheless, political differences pale when compared to economic differences. In terms of economic differences the two nations are worlds apart. While the Southerners live in relative abundance and material prosperity, the North Koreans have issues with the most basic human needs such as food. For lack of a better term to use, North Korea is a banana republic. The country is ruled by small elite of rulers that control everything to the extent that there are no independent businesses in the country. Compare this to South Korea which has a few global brand names to its repute. Clearly, it would take some time before North Koreans can be taught the principles of free enterprise so as to put them at par with the their southern brothers.

Looking at their social set ups the two have more similarities here compared to the other two categories. The main similarity is that the two have largely retained their Korean dialect with a slight variation, which is to be expected for two communities that have grown apart for that long. Looking at their religions however, the North Korean side has had the growth Christianity stifled at the behest of the ruling elite. This has led to fewer Christians in the North and even worse is the fact that children born in the country today are indoctrinated with the teachings that elevate the countrys supreme leader to a demigod status. Such is the brainwashing that is happening to the North Koreans yet, the Southern population has lived with enjoyment of full civil liberties. As a result, South Korea has a fair mix of religions with Christianity being the majority religion.

The two societies are not very homogeneous as their names suggest. The only similarity is the language, but that alone cannot be used to stake a claim for reunification. It has been noted that North Koreans fleeing their oppressive government find easier to match their dialects with of the Southerners, but that is where their assimilation stops. The northerner will find it hard adapting to his new found freedom and will even have a behavior conspicuous enough for him or her to be identified as a Northerner. Similarly, economically speaking, if the two were to be unified then the South should be ready to pay a heavy price to bring their brothers income at par with theirs. In conclusion, I would like to disagree with those who say that if the current North Korean leadership were to be replaced, reunification would be a reality. That is not true the issues impeding a reunification are far more complicated than Kim Jong ils leadership and If the two have to be reunified then the above differences have to first be bridged.