S. Korean president proposes plan to reunite with N. Korea

S. Korean president proposes plan to reunite with N. Korea

www.cnn.com

South Korean President Lee Myun-bak has proposed a plan to reunite his country with North Korea and suggested a tax to prepare for the costs expected if the two countries come together, South Korea's state media said Sunday.

Lee said the two countries should form a "peace community," and stressed the importance of the denuclearization of North Korea, Yonhap reported.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow, this is big news. It would be great if the two countries could settle their differences without fighting but I'm just not sure North Korea will go for this.


Let's hope this isn't just another empty promise from a politician. It sure would be nice if America didn't have to fight a three front war.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

With all the comments lately about using creditable sources I am not sure CNN would be a good one . But good news is always welcome weather from a blog or a corrupt news media outlet . peace

reply to post by the2ofusr1


CNN might be corrupt but I'm pretty sure they're a credible source. Like all MSM they put they're own spin on things to suit their agenda but they get their facts right (sometimes).

Originally posted by the2ofusr1
With all the comments lately about using creditable sources I am not sure CNN would be a good one . But good news is always welcome weather from a blog or a corrupt news media outlet .

I don't see this as being news from a corrupt source, I see the story being true with just about a zero percent chance of it happening and the politician who said the words knows it also.

I find it hard to believe these two countries could ever unite due to their different governments and their leaders.

Government of South Korea

The Government of South Korea is divided into three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative. The executive and judicial branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions. Local governments are semi-autonomous, and contain executive and legislative bodies of their own. The judicial branch operates at both the national and local mains.
******SKIP******
However, it has retained many broad characteristics; with the exception of the short-lived Second Republic of South Korea, the country has always had a presidential system with a relatively independent chief executive.

As with most stable three-branch systems, a careful system of checks and balances is in place. For instance, the judges of the Constitutional Court are partially appointed by the executive, and partially by the legislature.

I just can't imagine Little Kim II settling for anything but total control and being appointed The Eternal President, which is what he was declared after his fathers death.

The North Korean government officials would have to relinquish too much of their power and their "social" standing.

North Korea

North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers' Party (KWP).[13][14][15][16] The country's government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by the country's former President, Kim Il-Sung. After his death, Kim Il-Sung was declared to be the country's Eternal President. Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972,[17] though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955.[18] Officially a socialist republic,[19] many media organizations outside North Korea report that it is a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship.[14][15][20][21][22] Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung have constructed around them a cult of personality. It is reported as having one of the world's worst human rights records.

And just what is this Juche ideology?

Juche

Current North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. He has final authority over the interpretation of the state ideology and incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into it in 1996

Practical application

According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:

1. The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic

self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
2. Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
3. Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
4. The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.

The Juche outlook requires absolute loyalty to the revolutionary party and leader.

Nope, just don't see Lil' Kim giving up his Eternal Presidency or this Juche Idealogy that his father (thanks Slayer) came up with.

[edit on 8/15/2010 by Keyhole]

Originally posted by Keyhole
I find it hard to believe these two countries could ever unite....

Nope, just don't see Lil' Kim giving up his Eternal Presidency or this Juche Idealogy that he himself came up with.

Actually his father came up with the Juche ideology. What's funny and amazing is that there are plenty of people here at ATS that think and believe North Korea has claims on the South.

As if the richer, more populace and successful South shouldn't have a say in reunification. If anything the more successful of the two should be listened to more often.

No one else is responding? I thought this was pretty big news. I guess no one on ATS cares about world events anymore?

C'mon people this is big news. Where is everyone?

I also think this would be a good idea, but I'm not sure the US would be in favor of this, but then again who cares what those war mongers think. Korea gave us KIA, that is better than anything the US produced.

A re-united Korea could go 2 different ways.....

1) Become westernised.....could pose a threat to China....along with japan could keep China in check in Asia for the Amercians.

2) Become communist.....would be a much stronger force than what it is now, and would pose a major threat to western leaning asian nations such as Japan, Thailand etc......

3) A sheet of glass

I for one am sick of hearing about the mentally disturbed koreas.
it's been 60 years- i say the usa should pull the plug and leave
them to make war or peace. it's like being in the middle
of a drunken domestic dispute. he hurts me- but he doesnt mean it.
some drunk old man in a tank top and and sunglasses on an
episode of cops..
if they go to war and millions are killed-
that leaves millions more where that came from.
thats the deal anymore- life is cheap.

reply to post by Melbourne_Militia


Hopefully it would go the first way. Not only would it aid the west but it would help improve the North Korean's quality of life.

Ammmmm ....

Does anyone else see the glaringly obvious problem with this plan ?

Surely N.Korea would have to be complicate .

Its as if a divorced husband unilaterally announces ..that he is getting back with his ex wife, ..... a wife who has threatened to kill him many times since their inimical separation.

Originally posted by p51mustang
I for one am sick of hearing about the mentally disturbed koreas.
it's been 60 years- i say the usa should pull the plug and leave
them to make war or peace.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

South Korea is the world's thirteenth largest economy and one of the largest suppliers of industrially complex products (stuff that China can't compete with because it requires basic quality control).

Look under your refrigerator - I'd bet there's Samsung or LG stamped on your compressor, particularly if it is a GE refrigerator.

Barring that - look at anything that was shipped here via vessel (including the gasoline in your car) - chances are, it was sent on a ship built by the world's largest ship building economy (and the only supplier of tripple-hulled tankers) - That'd be the Republic of Korea (RoK - or South Korea).

Although, presently, the exercises here are intended to be used to turn primary control of defensive strategy and policy on the Peninsula over to the RoK. The U.S. is playing second-fiddle in the exercises, now, and they are taking up the reigns.

it's like being in the middle
of a drunken domestic dispute. he hurts me- but he doesnt mean it.
some drunk old man in a tank top and and sunglasses on an
episode of cops..

We can't be expected to understand their culture entirely. They can trace their family lineage back a thousand years and claim to live on the same plot of land. We're lucky to know where our grandparents or great grandparents lived.

The division of North and South Korea is also not the first time something like this has happened. Korea is something of Asia's Poland - they've always had the Chinese, Japanese, or someone else stampeding through their nation and trifling with their women.

However, a unification of North and South Korea as a single nation is not going to happen. The two will likely remain two separate nations and economies with visitation rights (if that ever gets worked out).

The reasoning is purely economics and history. When East and West Germany unified, the wealth disparity was 2:1. West Germany was nearly brought to its knees, subsidizing development in East Germany. The wealth disparity between South and North Korea is 10:1.

if they go to war and millions are killed-
that leaves millions more where that came from.
thats the deal anymore- life is cheap.

The Koreans have served with us in every war since the Korean conflict. They are one of the strongest Allies the U.S. has - and we hardly know they exist, sadly.

I get to work with them on a daily basis, here, participating in Ulchi Freedom Guardian for the third time in as many years.