North & South Korean
Future
Introduction
The Korean Peninsula has been on the headlines& history books for all the right
and wrong reason for centuries, from generosity & hospitality to civil wars &
conflicts, from taking over the technological and automobile market by the likes
of Samsung & Hyundai respectively to developing nuclear missiles which could
pose a serious threat to society, both North & South Korea play a significant
role in global politics and are discussed by the general public. Among these two
densely populated nations, North Korea also known as “Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea” has been facing international sanctions regarding trade,
businesses and military supplies due to its nuclear program and their nuclear
experiments, meanwhile South Korea’s also known as “Republic of Korea” been the
more prosperous one economically& technologically and have strong diplomatic
ties with other nations. Ethnically, populations of both states are homogenous,
but still division is there among both nations mainly due to the Korean War in
1950-1953, which resulted in the separation of both states. After all these
years, the question still remains in the mind of the people as “Whether there
ever will be a Korean Reunification?”.
The Panmunjom Meeting: Possibility of a Korean Reunification?
Throughout the years, the Korean peninsula has maintained a rivalry between each
other and the memories of the war is still fresh among the masses but still
there always has been a diplomatic mission of a possible Korean reunification to
eradicate the Korean demilitarized zone and form a single government. The
process towards such a merger was started in June 2000 in the form of North-
South Joint Declaration, negotiated between the presidents of the time Kim
Dae-Jung and Kim Jong-Il of ROK & DPRK respectively. The declaration stated that
resolution of the problem of reunification through the efforts of the Korean
people, resolution of humanitarian issues such as exchange visits of the
separated family members and development of the national economy through
economic cooperation.
A major breakthrough came in April 2018 in the village of Panmunjom, closer to
the 38th Parallel, as the current president of North Korea Kim Jong-Un became
the first leader to set foot in the South region of the peninsula after the
Korean War, stepping across the military demarcation and shook hands with Moon
Jae-In, the South Korean president, which deemed an “historic summit” spurring
reports of a possible peace treaty between the fraught nations. During this
historic meeting, the attitude of both president seemed positive as they paused
for photographs in what was the first meeting between the Korean leaders in 11
years.
The objective of the entire summit was for achieve a complete denuclearization
of the region and work towards officially ending the Korean war with a peace
treaty, by establishing a peace building mechanism and stability of Inter-Korean
relations. A joint statement between the two nations stated that:
"The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world
there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and a new age of peace has
begun,"
The statement was acknowledged worldwide, as majority of world have appreciated
the efforts and prosperity as the key player of the region, the United States
have recognized the services, aiming for the Korean war to end.
Although the entire meeting and greeting of these nations may seem good on the
paper, the question still remains whether the two nations have still developed
trust among themselves, a doubt still in the minds of the public. If we tend to
look at some of the points of the summit, then North Korea’s demand was the to
remove the US troops stationed from the South as they see US a threat to the
peninsula, to which South Korean spokesperson to the blue house(President House
of South Korea) Kim Eui-Kyeom responded:
"U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are an issue regarding the alliance
between South Korea and the United States. It has nothing to do with signing
peace treaties"
Similarly, Pyongyang is against the sanctions which have been implied by US,
calling it a “Threat of War”, in response to which Kim Jong-Un is willing to
stop its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and dismantle a
nuclear testing site, but he didn’t say anything about the existing nuclear
arsenal, which is basically the main concern of South Korea.
Similarly, the South Korean trust with the Northwill only be established when a
practical denuclearization mechanism shall be initiated and eliminate all
nuclear activities in the Korean peninsula, as Seoul seeks a peace treaty to
formally end the 65 years armistice and hostility, if North Korea is willing to
give up its current nuclear weapons. As major allies of the United States and
South Korea have agreed upon a military alliance in 1953 and pledged in 2009 to
further cooperate on future defence, upon which North Korea has doubts. South
Korea has always supported international sanctions, which includes the sanctions
applied upon their neighbors, but still provides millions of dollars of
humanitarian aid.
Conclusion
If we draw up a formal conclusion for a beautiful country with a sad history,
then we can say that although efforts are being made by both countries towards a
peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula, still the matter of trust is not
established among them since the wounds of war are fresh, resulting in a hostile
environment in the region. If unification is still on the cards after 65 years,
then we can say that with an immense labor force &dedication of the North and
technological & economical of the South, Korea, in general could become one of
the major powers of the planet.