Reunification of the two Koreas

December 1985
Somewhere near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Kangwon Province, South Korea

It was cold and dark in that no man’s land near the North Korean border and I was trying to follow the soldier that came to meet me at the drop point. I say trying because climbing a hill in full gear with snow that came up to your knees was not part of the training I received as a future second lieutenant of the Republic of Korea’s Army. I had just finished my military training and I was going to report to my platoon commanding officer in this remote and dangerous area. “Sir, it is important that you follow me close and walk on my footsteps. There are land mines all around here to stop a possible North-Korean invasion" whispered the private. I was 25 years old and not ready to die stupidly by stepping on a mine that was planted by the South Korean Army. And for the first time of my life, I asked myself “Why am I here? Why are the two Koreas still divided?”

November 22, 2010
Seoul, South Korea

25 years later, nothing has changed. The two Koreas are still divided and the tension is still high in the DMZ, reminding us that, technically, the two Koreas are still at war, after the signing of the Armistice Treaty in 1953. In fact, the situation is much worse than 25 years ago, on the North Korean side. The totalitarian communist North Korean regime now has nuclear weapons, and the mismanaged North Korean economy is collapsing. The GDP (PPP) per capita in 1985 is uncertain¹ but it may have somewhat dropped to $ 1,800 in 2009². On top of that, after the son, now it is the grandson of Kim il-sung, Kim Jong-un, who is preparing to take the reins of power of that unthinkable, brutal and dangerous regime. And today CNN reports North Korea's revelations about its uranium-enrichment program.

On the South Korean side also, there have been some unbelievable changes during this quarter of a century. The GDP (PPP) per capita has increased more than tenfold from $ 2,367 in 1985 to $ 28,000 in 2010² and South Korea has joined the OECD and the G-20. The military dictatorship (which, we must recognize, made possible the economic miracle of South Korea in the 60s, 70s, and 80s) was replaced by a full-fledged democracy and market-oriented economy.

During the two previous South Korean governments preceding the present Lee Myung-bak administration, South Korea tried, for a decade, to flirt with the privileged ruling class of North Korea because we wanted to be sure they would not do anything stupid like starting another war but also because the rest of its population were our brothers and sisters mistreated cruelly by a totalitarian regime that passes the reins of power from father to son for now 3 generations.

So we made sure to treat them with enough candies to keep them in check by offering, among other things, massive humanitarian help for the North Korean people starving to death and by establishing a manufacturing complex at Kaesung to inject some life-support adrenalin into the weak and the last still communist economic structure of the world. South Korea tried to transform its neighbor into a mature and responsible world state but without success so far.

The Lee Myung-bak government also tried to keep the child happy but now that the international investigators have determined that North Korea had indeed torpedoed South Korea’s warship Cheonan in March 2010, killing 46 sailors, it is a whole different ballgame.

I have been at the front line of South Korea’s economic expansion during the export drive period of the 80’s and 90’s, working with Korea’s biggest conglomerates or “Chaebols”, Samsung, and witnessed the transformation of a society into a completely different one in less than a generation, from a dictatorship to a democracy, from poverty to wealth, from aid receiving nation to aid donor nation. Based on my background in Economics, my MBA and my expertise in the field of communication and PR, I would like to focus my research, working together with the APPC Center, into those areas of “communication strategy” (in the widest meaning³), that could eventually help prepare for the following three objectives or scenarios:


- Achieve a sustainable peaceful coexistence between the 2 Koreas.

- Induce North Korea to adopt Chinese-style economic reforms, leading therefore
  to a gradual opening of the frontiers and eventually to peaceful reunification.
- Recreate and accelerate another “ Fall of the Berlin Wall”
- Improve the well-being of the North-Korean people after the traumatic choc
  of reunification.

President Lee said recently that it is time for the South to start discussing realistic policies to prepare for reunification, including a “reunification tax” that would help the South absorb the North. Time will tell us whether the reunification comes as a gradual process or as a sudden collapse of the North Korean regime, but whatever the case, I would like to contribute in its preparation and/or in the post-reunification process, should it happen during my lifetime.

¹ $723 and $555 in 1985 and 2008 respectively according to WolframAlpha Knowledgebase

² source: CIA World FactBook

    ³ For example, giving food to North Korea or performing a joint South Korea-USA military exercise are all
      different ways of communicating different messages to North Korea.

Technician versus Artist

A fender-bender that transformed my car like brand new

A few days ago, I was in my car with my wife waiting for the green light when suddenly a car bumped strongly into us from behind, not once but three times....causing my car to bump also three times into the BMW X5 in front of us. The back of the BMW was merely scratched while the front of my car was severely damaged...

To make a long story short, I called my insurance company and an investigation agent came within ten minutes of my phone call. I was impressed by the speed of reaction of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and so were the other people of the other two cars. The Samsung agent, a clean-cut young man, started to install number pads and word pads on the car and took photos like if it was a crime scene....All the people around were speechless in front of the professionalism of that silent and efficient man. My car was towed away by the insurance company within minutes to the Hyundai repair shop near our house and another person brought us a rent car to use during the period of the repair. Two days later, somebody brought my car back into the parking lot of my apartment building and took back the rent car. That man brought me a brand-new Grandeur in front of me, with all the little scratches on the side and back of the back completly gone! And a sparkling new painting.

Thank you Samsung for the quality and speed of your service...!