In two recent articles, Peter M. Bleck and Charles Wolf Jr. (writing for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine, respectively) came to two very different price tags for the reunification of North and South Korea. Mr. Wolf Jr. estimated the cost to be about $62 billion, while Mr. Bleck thinks that it could cost up to $5 trillion. However, their opinions actually don't contradict each other that much. The reason for the different prices is different goals.[1], [2]

Mr. Wolf Jr. believes in a goal of doubling the average North Korean's income, while Mr. Bleck thinks that North Korean incomes should be brought up to 80% of South Koreans' over a course of thirty years. Personally, I think that Mr. Bleck's analysis is more reasonable.

Doubling North Koreans' incomes would have them jumping for joy. (I know that I would, and I would guess that you would, too.) However, can we expect North Koreans to be happy with this situation for thirty years?

North Koreans are not that different from South Koreans. The recent unrest in the North, caused by a failed currency reform and led by ajumma* shows that North Korean ajumma can be as stubbornly protective of their families as their southern counterparts.[3] There is evidence that North Koreans have the same passion for their children's education as South Koreans.[4] Author and expert on North Korea B.R. Myers has pointed out that, unlike West Germany (which had to bite its tongue when talking with East Germany), South Korea basically agrees with North Korea's myth about Koreans being a pure, clean race.[5]

South Korea is always comparing itself to other countries.[6] Until it officially became a developed country, it obsessed over becoming one.[7] If South Korea finishes second in the Asia Pacific Curling Championships, newspaper articles and editorials are written about how more money must be pumped into curling so that South Korea can become a "Mecca of curling enthusiasts" and/or a "hub of curling champions" and avenge its humiliation next year.** I don't expect North Korea---even a free, democratic one---to behave much differently.

North Korea's per capita GDP is estimated to be about $700, and the South's to be around $20,000. Doubling North Korean incomes will still only give them about one-fourteenth of the average Southerner's salary. Can we expect them to be happy about this for thirty years? I think not.

* Translated literally as "auntie," it refers to any older woman, especially one who is married and has children.

** This is a fictional parody by me.

Written by Richard Stansfield ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it). The writer has been living and teaching English in Korea since 1996.

The views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Seoul Selection