S. Korea urged to build trust with N. Korea for eventual reunification

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- U.S. scholars Tuesday urged South Korea to build
mutual trust and develop institutions governing bilateral relations with North
Korea as a precondition for the eventual reunification of the two Koreas, divided
for the past six decades.

In a policy report posted on the Korea Economic Institute's Web site, Sangmin Bae
and Martyn de Bruyn, assistant professors of political science at Northeastern
Illinois University, noted that the European Union developed "a set of
institutions that governs relations between its member states."
"We argue that these institutions can be exported to the Korean peninsula to
create an environment in which trusting relations can be built," they said.
The scholars insisted in the report titled "Trust Building through Institutions:
European Lessons for Korean Unification," that "institutions will provide both
Korean governments with an effective voice in the deliberative process."
"Regular meetings between high-level governmental officials can be well prepared
by diplomatic staff who can negotiate away from the watchful eye of the South
Korean news media," they said. "Insulation from public opinion creates the
necessary breathing space for, especially, South Korean decision makers."
They singled out a lack of continuity as the main reason for the faltering
multilateral talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"Trust building is dependent on continuity in the relationship," they said. "The
six-party-talks format has lacked this continuity and thus has led to a chain of
short-lived successes that are quickly followed by accusations of betrayal from
both sides."
The nuclear disarmament talks have been on and off since their inception in 2003,
with the latest round last month hitting another snag, with the North refusing to
agree to a verification protocol on its nuclear facilities.
The new U.S. administration of Barack Obama has said it will continue the
six-party talks while seeking more direct engagement with the nuclear armed
communist regime.
The scholars envisioned that a relationship built on trust would lead to an
increase in inter-Korean economic cooperation "in expanding industrial zones,
further development of the North Korean tourist zones and the standardization of
technology and transportation."
They drew a comparison to former East Germany, the German Democratic Republic.
"Especially the standardization process will pay high dividends in a unified
Korea, as the lack of standardization in the GDR was one of the greatest
unexpected cost factors in its unification with West Germany," they said.
"Institutions provide security through trust building and will help South Korea
absorb the economic shock of future unification."
The scholars noted West Germany's federal government system "allowed it to be
flexible enough to absorb East Germany into its legal-political framework."
"South Korea differs from West Germany in two important respects: it is not a
federal state, and it does not have historically sensitive borders," they said.
"Not Germany but the European Union is the preferred model for Korean
unification."
The scholars said the unified German economy "is still recovering from
reunification, with a high unemployment rate, especially in the eastern states,
as if little effort had been made during the past 18 years," noting the German
unification has come "at a price of significant economic pain."
They stressed the need for the two Koreas to cooperate closely before their
reunification in order to avoid a possible economic havoc after reunification,
noting greater economic disparities between the two Koreas than the Germanies.
East Germany's population was about one-quarter that of West Germany's in 1990,
and East Germany's gross domestic product was approximately 10 percent, while
North Korea's population is about one-half that of South Korea and North Korea's
economy is only 3.4 percent, they said.
"This could lead to massive migration after the demarcation line between the
Koreas ceases to function as an international border," they said. "To be sure,
the relative costs of unification in Korea would be even higher than the enormous
costs in Germany."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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