Mick Hartley

The eventual reunification of Korea may seem as far off as ever but it'll come someday, perhaps with as little advance warning as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany in 1989. But comparisons with Germany are problematic to say the least: the gap between East and West presented major problems which reverberate to this day, but it was nothing compared to the chasm that now exists between North and South Korea. The physical differences are just the start.

In Der Spiegel (part 2, part 3) veteran German politicians from the reunification period, in Seoul to advise the government, talk about their experience. Lothar de Maizière, the last prime minister of the former East Germany:

"I didn't believe that German unity would ever come, either — and then it suddenly happened," he says. This is already de Maizière's fifth trip to South Korea since German reunification. He has spoken to students, academics and government officials. "This is now my fourth or fifth Korean unification minister. They appoint new ones all the time. I can't remember all their names," says de Maizière. "Or their faces," adds Schönbohm.

"They always have the same questions," says de Maizière. "It was the same story today. The Koreans basically don't want unity to cost too much, and I tell them it will cost much more than you can imagine." Eppelmann nods in agreement. "I've realized that the South Koreans are trying to figure out a way for the North Koreans to remain in the North after unification," says Eppelmann. "The South Koreans were talking about border controls. I'll be damned! They seriously intend to close the border after the wall has fallen!"

But, as Marcus Noland argues, there is genuine concern in the South about a flood of refugees. A recent report issued by the Korean Employers Federation claimed that a sudden collapse of the North Korean state could send as many as 3.65 million North Koreans across the DMZ. With that kind of scenario in mind, the maintenance of border controls as a temporary measure, though unpalatable, may be the best option.

Of course there may be no reunification. It would need to be acceptable to the Chinese, and it's not at all clear that that's the case. Also, many South Koreans may not be prepared to pay the price. They're doing pretty well as they are, and even the few North Korean refugees that do make it to the South now don't find acceptance easy:

You can immediately recognize a North Korean by the way he speaks, says Sang Don Park, a ministry official responsible for matters relating to refugees. He says that North Koreans don't use any Anglicisms, but they do use communist political jargon that no one in the South is familiar with. These are presumably terms like ones that were common in East Germany that only raised quizzical looks among Germans in the West after reunification. A North Korean often understands only 60 percent of South Korean, says Sang. What's more, he adds, there is a different intonation and various dialects. Not to mention health problems: North Koreans have poor teeth due to malnourishment. Many suffer from depression and other psychological problems when they arrive in the South. North Korean refugees receive financial aid for five years after they leave the camp. There are programs that help them find work and housing — and acquire an education.

South Koreans are probably afraid that they will have to re-educate and finance an entire people — and pay for their dental care — if unification becomes a reality.

"Many young South Koreans are put off by the costs" as well, says Deputy Minister Kim and cites the following figures: Only approximately 35 percent of the 19 to 40-year-olds see reunification as an important political issue.

The desire to unite is continuously ebbing. South Korea's older generation has long since lost touch with friends and relatives north of the border. The younger generation has never had a chance to meet. Viewed from the South, North Korea is a distant, uninhabitable planet. It's not even possible to hop across the border for a quick look, as West German schoolchildren used to do on field trips to East Berlin.

But now, fortunately, the Germans are here. Kim hopes that they will rekindle the fires of enthusiasm.