Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 25 april 2018

A unified Korea? Leaders bring contrasting visions to summit

By ERIC TALMADGE ended the fighting of the
Associated Press 1950-53 Korean War with a
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — permanent peace treaty —
Unification is an idea that a goal Pyongyang shares.
moves most Koreans, North This step could get a boost
and South, on an emotion- on Friday — it will almost
al level. certainly be taken up then
For some, especially young and probably again at the
people in the South, it may summit between Kim and
not be a burning issue. De- President Donald Trump in
tails like the costs, the risks May or early June.
and what specifically both South Korea wants to then
sides stand to gain are rare- develop trust and coop-
ly given much thought by eration to the point where
anyone who isn’t an aca- a sort of national consensus
demic, politician or activist. has been achieved.
But when North Korean After a transitional com-
leader Kim Jong Un and monwealth period, the
South Korean President next step would be the for-
Moon Jae-in meet on Fri- mation of a single market
day, the prospect of unifi- on the Korean Peninsula
cation, even if only in the “to create new growth en-
abstract, will loom large gines and create an inter-
around them. Korean economic com-
Can Kim’s nuclear-armed munity of coexistence and
North and the K-pop capi- co-prosperity.”
talism of Moon’s South ever “We will build a new eco-
merge into One Korea? In this March 1, 2018 file photo, a conservative activist with a card showing a portrait of South nomic order that will bring
Both leaders come to the Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, attends a ceremony peace and prosperity to
table with distinct visions of to celebrate the March First Independence Movement Day, the anniversary of the 1919 uprising the Korean Peninsula and
what that would look like. against Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul, South Korea. Northeast Asia,” the minis-
And they are very different. Associated Press try concludes.
___ ernment. Not surprisingly, that looks a not Seoul. The essentials of this plan
THE DEMOCRATIC FEDERAL Under his plan, the North lot like North Korea today, With so many devils lurking were announced by Presi-
REPUBLIC OF KORYO and South would respect with its Supreme People’s in the details, Kim’s grand dent Roh Tae-woo in Sep-
After failing to take the each other’s ideology, so- Assembly, and the party’s plan has never gotten tember 1989.
South by force in the 1950s, cial system and autonomy. Politburo and Central Com- much traction. The succession of admin-
North Korea’s founder and Both sides would have an mittee overseeing day- ___ istrations that have taken
“eternal president,” Kim Il equal number of represen- to-day policies. Even the A KOREAN COMMON- office in the South since
Sung, announced a plan tatives in a supreme na- name smacks of the North, WEALTH AND BEYOND Roh have adhered fairly
for what he thought a uni- tional assembly with equal which is officially the Demo- South Korea’s three-step predictably to the principle
fied Korea should look like rights and responsibilities. cratic People’s Republic of proposal ends in a similarly of gradual, peaceful prog-
back in 1980. The assembly would also Korea. predictable place: its own ress, while calibrating their
He called it the Democratic have representatives of An equal number of assem- system writ large across the willingness to engage with
Federal Republic of Koryo. Koreans overseas. It would bly seats would be a good peninsula. Pyongyang based on their
Koryo was an ancient Ko- have a standing commit- deal for the North, which The first priority, according assessment of its level of
rean kingdom from which tee that would administer has half the South’s popu- to South Korea’s Unification vulnerability or hostility.
the word Korea is derived. state affairs. lation. The inclusion of Kore- Ministry, is to develop a sus- In the long run, however,
Kim’s plan was for an ar- Kim stressed the need for ans overseas would boost tainable relationship and it makes no provision for a
rangement something this new federation to re- that advantage even fur- resolve the issue of North one-state, two-system fu-
along the lines of what main neutral and indepen- ther since, for historical rea- Korea’s development of ture.
Hong Kong has with China, dent, avoiding in particular sons, more often than not nuclear weapons. Ultimately, Seoul believes,
a unified nation with two military alliances with oth- they have at least nominal Seoul wants to substitute the North Korean system
separate systems of gov- ers. allegiance to Pyongyang, the unstable armistice that has to go.q