It’s good and right that they try this and I hope that it works. It’s been long enough and the quasi peace has also gone on for long enough. They need to do very little in practice to move from “everything stays as it is but we call it war + armistice” to “we talked, and we’re now calling it peace”. Just needs a tiny amount of good will that even NK should have, considering it’s not going to materially change much at fist.
He said this was a “realistic” goal, while Seoul continued to push for full denuclearisation.
There is absolutely no way that NK will give up the nukes, if they have them. Especially not after seeing how that worked out for Ukraine.
The North stated 60 years ago this will never happen. I’ve heard nothing since that changes this.
I wish them the best of luck, it’s a genuine quagmire. I can’t imagine how this will ever resolve.
North Korea did drop reunification as their goal from their constitution.
Its possible North Korea has accepted that reunification will never happen any time soon, and would rather keep control of the swath of land and captive peasants they currently hold.
Additionally, South Korea is facing an apocalyptic fertility crisis that will already end the country if they don’t effectively open up to immigrants and make life easier for the average Korean. Since their country is infected with terminal capitalism, we probably won’t see that, but ending the war reduces stress.
The moment the war ends, the questions begin.
I think they’ve changed the supreme leader a couple times since then. The new guy may be more amenable to the idea.
So long as South Korea is an American military outpost the North will feel threatened and peace will be impossible. I would love to see it but it would require serious material changes on the part of South Korea.
Edit: i may have got my wish lmao
As long as China tries to bully its neighbours, South Korea will never give up the security of America. I would love to see it happen, but it would require serious political changes on the part of China.
China hasn’t invaded anyone in like
7047 years. South Korea doesn’t need thousands of US military personnel and arms to protect itself from China. Trade protectionism does not require thisVietnam was less than 70 years ago. Kind of nitpicky, but that’s just not true.
I was referring to vietnam but admittedly my sense of time is not very good and I just threw a number out there that felt right
Edited previous comment for clarity lol
The reason the Korean War was fought was to reunify. Declaring peace without reunification just means there will never be reunification.
Yep, but i think North Korea isn’t even really trying to reunify. Kim Jong-un has framed his social policy as a nationalistic one and dropped the hardline reunification policy that dominated his grandfather and father’s rule. With that in consideration, I think South Korea sees this and thought they may not be a point to follow the parallel policy of reunification. Besides, Koreans from both sides have increasingly diverging culture after decades of separation. If both reunify in one way or another, how would the Koreans treat each other? We already see the effect of a generation long separation amongst a population with Germany after the reunification. There are tensions between the Western and Eastern Germans, and we even see this on the previous parliamentary elections, where the voting pattern perfectly fits the former border of the Iron Curtain.
The German separation lasted less longer but there are still tensions. But with the Koreas being separated for three generations now, I could imagine the tension being much stronger than in Germany if a reunification happens.
Yeah that’s probably true. It’s difficult for me as a non Korean to say what is best for the peninsula. It is pretty sad that millions of Koreans might never be able to see their family members across the border ever again.
The DPRK removed reunification as a goal from their constitution not long ago.
I know there’s a lot of missing nuance in this, but it feels like two siblings squabbling and thinking it’s the worse thing in the world and then seeing others truly fighting (Russia, US, etc) and going “oh shit, maybe it’s not as bad as we thought”.
I also wonder if the US and/or Russia was exerting pressure not to reunite, but now they’ve got less sway
North Korea would want to do th same in good faith, but my guess is that they are nowhere near wanting that.
