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Park Sae Il, the chairman of Greater Korea United, has long been a great proponent of globalization and advancement in Korea. Now, the man has turned his attention to the topic of advocating for unification. Korea’s place as an advanced nation is something that can only be aided by unification, he insists. With August 15th, Independence Day, coming up tomorrow, The Daily NK met with him to find out why unification could be an era-defining opportunity in South Korean history, not the economic and social disaster some would like to believe.
First and foremost, making the costs of unification the mainstay of the debate is no place to start, Park believes, saying, “I thought Lee Myung Bak did well to bring the topic of unification into the public forum last year, but talking about the issue of the price tag first and above all else was a mistake.”
“Before he did that he should have explained the national and historical significance of unification to the public,” he continues. “We need an approach that explains the meaning of unification at the same time as it identifies that there will be inevitable costs in making it happen.”
“The benefits of unification are far greater than the costs, and in the short term it could be a burden, but there are various ways the funds could be raised. There are myriad possible ways to procure the financial resources such as foundations, various types of taxes and through investments.”
“The cost of unification is an investment,” he adds. “I think 80% of that cost would be an investment. How will we procure that investment capital? I think it would have been far more advisable for there to have been a detailed process of explanation with a convincing argument put forward to the people about what methods could be used to raise the funds needed, and then talk about a unification tax.”
“Unification would reverse unemployment and economic stagnation on the Korean Peninsula”
“Short term, unification could possibly be a burden, however it would be a blessing as well. If North Korea’s underground resources, young human capital and market were to meet with South Korea’s large capital reserves and technology under unification, this could have a synergic effect on the economies of both countries,” he presses on.
Park’s own back-of-an-envelope calculations suggest that North Korea could record average year-on-year economic growth of 15-20% in such a scenario, while South Korea could reach around 10%. This could be the second jumpstart the Korean Peninsula needs; fixing the economic stagnation of South Korea, unemployment and increasing polarization all in one go, as the peninsula marches on to a new day.
However, while Park sees unification as a great opportunity for South Korea, he describes the lack of political leaders with an eye for this kind of future as simply baffling.
“If you look at our political leaders in this country we still don’t have anyone who possesses the leadership to bring about advancement and unification. It seems like there is nobody to speak with a proactive vision, strategy and conviction, to escape from the realm of party politics and open the door to unification,” he asserts, adding, “In a way, we have a crisis in South Korea right now. Historically, leadership has always played a strong role in any major issue. Of course people’s awareness is important, but more than that it is more important for our leaders to show leadership first.”
“The parties are failing to cope with the demands of the era,” he concludes.
The mistakes of political leaders are surely to blame for the public, in particular young people, having an aversion to unification, he contends, and it is easy to see his point.
“Our young people are passive spectators when it comes to the unification discussion. This is because they see unification as a burden rather than a chance, and our leaders have to shoulder a lot of the blame for that. Our social leaders have not actively made the public aware of the importance and acuteness of North-South relations and the unification issue, and it is also not a topic that gets taught properly in our schools either.”
Convince the region that unification is the only game in town
“We need to convince the US, Russia and Japan that unification of the Korean Peninsula would be beneficial to them. And particular in China’s case, we need to be really active in convincing them that North-South reunification is the key to development and prosperity on the peninsula,” is how Park sees the international environment.
“We need to call on China to take action befitting its status as a major country, as well as make them aware that wrangling between the two Koreas spreads fear to its own frontiers and has a negative effect on its own development.”
“China wants stability around the Korean Peninsula in order to help it solve its own internal problems,” he notes. “In some ways you could say that the Three Northeast Provinces are falling behind because of North Korea. We need to persuade China that unification will provide opportunities for its own development.”
“Unification of the Korean Peninsula could be the decisive catalyst to turn China into a force for peace,” he continues. “We need an argument that convinces people that unification would contribute to peace all throughout Northeast Asia, and not just coincide with the interests of America and the world, but also be a solution to the nuclear issue.”
Unification an opportunity for the Four Powers
“A unified Korean peninsula is an opportunity for Japan to kick-start its economy by utilizing its capital and technology,” Park even says, while for Russia, “to the extent that the Far East is the key to Russia’s future and implementing its own development, then they need unification to precede progress in the Far East.”
“The division of the peninsula has been very unfortunate for all four of these powers. Unification is not just a Korean issue; the future of Asia, let alone the world, is depending on it,” he adds.
Park also finally turns to the North itself, saying, “We need to foster some forces within the country that believe in unification and becoming an advanced country. We have to make them aware that unifying our two countries is the way for the North Korean people to survive and for our race to survive.”
“Within that unification process, there is a need not to ask the political leaders about the past, excluding a few people of course, but rather to say ‘Let’s walk towards unification together,'” he adds. “There is no question that people suffered at the hands of this system and its terrible leaders but that is no reason to dig up the pain of the past.”
