Among South Koreans who don’t want reunification, what do they want to happen in North Korea?
In my completely unfounded opinion it would not suprise me if some wish, like a drunk wierdo uncle, it would just “go away”.
I can understand this. The older generation likely has close relatives who they personally knew in NK. The kids don’t. They may have relatives in NK, but likely have never met them and just know of some aunt or uncle in name only.
Is Manchuria far enough away?
I know some koreans in their 40’s, is that an older generation? Because most of them like the idea of reunification (if not the reality)
For our purposes, that’s an older generation.
You have to remember that the country was incredibly poor in the aftermath of WWII and the Korean War (and even before that, if we’re being accurate). There’s going to be a huge divide sometime around 1985 (give or take a few years). That was about when the economy really took off and everybody started to prosper. There were also a set of democratic reforms in the 80s that changed a lot of things.
My own family came to the states in the late 70s, and their attitudes, while similar, are distinguishable from extended family who never left. They never saw the booming economic growth firsthand and are still sometimes shocked the country could be doing so well.
Also, there’s going to be different attitudes depending on the background of even the young Koreans. There are those who are still over there or have only recently left the country. There are those who left earlier in their life (enough to be schooled in another country). And then there are the ones born in another country (primarily the US and Canada).
Well everything I know about Korea is from conversations with Koreans who are 40+, many of them in the diplomatic corps.
I’d find that unlikely. I think the reason Americans have seen stagnation in height is due to lower income parents living in a culture in which bad foods are so prevalent they pass on poor eating habits to their children.
One thing that really isn’t skimped on in America is children. Every state in the country has a WIC program and vast amounts of dollars are spent on young mothers/children who are economically disadvantaged.
Nutrition education is probably the single biggest problem with children’s nutrition, not anything relating to what sort of health insurance the parents have.
I’m not Korean but my guess is that they’d like to see North Korea develop a less aggressive communist government - something like what Vietnam or China has. Nominally communist but willing to work with capitalism. A generation or two of that would rebuild North Korea’s economy (and would presumedly be less interested in threatening South Korea). And that point North Korea would be the equivalent of East Germany - a poor cousin you’d be willing to welcome back into the family.
Here is an article from Korea JoongAng Daily of November 22, 2010, reporting the results of a survey regarding reunification costs. Interesting points to me are:
[ul][li]The number of those willing to pay has dropped over 13% in five years.[/li][li]These two paragraphs at the end of the article are quite telling:[/li]
[/ul]
Yeah, I’m sure if there were a way to reunify painlessly, we’d all be for it.
Also, Koreans who live abroad tend to be more idealistic in their patriotism. Many first generation immigrants left when the pain of the split was still raw. They pass these ideals on to their children, who most likely grow up without setting foot in Korea except for the odd visit. Their ideas do not reflect what Koreans here, in their 20s and 30s, currently think about the situation.
Ideally we want peaceful co-existence with North Korea. I’m sure if their leaders dialed down the crazy and sincerely asked for assistance, South Korea would be more than willing to help.
Yeah, I think we try but the net has a wide warp and weft.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-15-height_N.htm
http://searchwarp.com/swa87338.htm
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
My conclusion is not the only one you can reach but it should cause at least a little bit of concern.
Most of the Koreans I know came here sometime in the '70s so maybe that skews my view of Korean opinion.
I wonder if the recession has anything to do with it?
Well, no doubt, the recession has something to do with the amount people are willing to pay. The sinking of the Cheonan has a lot to do with less people willing to pay at all, no doubt.
Earlier you mentioned something about you and I must be speaking to different people. Your posting above seems to indicate you don’t live in Korea. Since I’m in Korea, the Koreans I’m speaking to happen to be the ones actually in Korea.
Or to put it another way, equalizing the average income between the two Germanies would cost the West Germans approximately a 10% drop in income. Equalizing the average income between the two Koreas, would cost the South Koreans approximately a 30% drop in income.
I think you also encounter another problem if you flip the question on its head – “How would North Korea greet the prospect of unification with SK?”
I am no expert on these matters, but all I’ve read on this indicates that unlike many dictatorships where there’s a clear disaffection with the government and an active, underground, resistance, no such thing really exists in North Korea. The people there have bought into Dear Leader’s clap-trap hook, line and sinker. Even the people that leave North Korea are usually doing so to make some money to bring back home, and will even speak fondly of Kim Jong-Il.
When you think about it, the fact that North Korea still exists in this world is kind of mindblowing. What government they have there isn’t even really communism. It’s nothing but a hyper-nationalistic cult of personality based around the Kim family. And there’s no one seriously trying to topple it from the inside! It seriously sounds like some made-up country from a comic book, like Latveria.
There is a growing restlessness in the North - the Telegraph had video footage of civilians actively rebelling against the police and anti-government graffiti. Apparently it was smuggled out of the North by a North Korean journalist. Whether there is an organized sort of resistance going on, no one knows. But more and more North Koreans are realizing that their country and their Dear Leader suck.
I read a somewhat amusing article today about the North Korean assassins we caught a few months ago - they said they were pleasantly surprised that they weren’t tortured for information.
You vastly, vastly overestimate the gullibility of North Koreans. I have read actualy interviews with them, and even heard reports of events withing NK during unguarded private moments (few and rare). There’s no resistance or underground because nothing like that can exist in a society that totalitarian. Society is so devastatingly controlled that nobody can get free in any way. The cities are built like iron cages, and the countryside is treated like a giant prison work camp. Only people near the border with China can get out. It’s not that they necessarily believe any of it - they simply have no choice. Kim has the army in his pocket, and that’s that.
The total lack of any independant communication is a major damper, and it feeds into . Even in thw worst days of the Soviets or the Chinese, there was an independant culture outside the government. That doesn’t happen in NK insofar as I can tell - absolutely everything is part of the government in one way or another. The result is that everyone is always and everywhere pretending, or they happen to be in on the government, really believing it.
IMO only, S.Korea would welcome unification with open arms as would the population of N.Korea.
(Though not the N.K. king and his sons unless they were in charge, and yes I realise my choice of words)
Not only could S.K. handle it without too much trauma but it would lead to an economic boom as it happened .
China would welcome it,as would all the other nations in the region.
I emphasise that this is my opinion only.