Getting the Timing Right for an Inter-Korean Summit
As recent events between China and Taiwan demonstrate, the conditions and circumstances of a meeting matter as much as the substance.
October 2015: Building from Family Reunions While Tensions Remain in Inter-Korean Relations
With North Korea celebrating the anniversary of its Workers Party on October 10, there was also some initial concern that the event would be marked by a missile launch or nuclear test, which would damage the possibility of the family reunions scheduled for later in the month. No missile or nuclear test occurred, and both the parade for the anniversary and the family reunions took place.
September 2015: Tough Rhetoric between Deal and Potential Meetings in Inter-Korean Relations
After the month of August featured shooting, shouting, and a negotiated joint statement, September mainly focused on laying the groundwork necessary to implement the August 25 agreement or to scuttle it.
Insights from German Unification: Dealing with Political Prisoners after Unification
During East Germany’s 41 years of the existence there were some 250,000 political prisoners.
Insights from German Unification: The Social Challenges of Unification
One of the most difficult internal challenges Korea will face after unification is integrating the North Korean population into South Korean society.
Insights from German Unification: Integrating the Bureaucracy and the Military
While it is natural for there to be a desire for justice after a regime such as North Korea’s collapses, practical matters often intervene.
Insights from German Unification: Political Integration on the Korean Peninsula
In the first and only free elections in the German Democratic Republic’s history East Germans, voted for political parties that ran on a platform of unification.
Insights from German Unification: Unification will Come Before Integration to Korea
Looking at Germany today, one key takeaway from its experience is that unification will come quickly, but the integration of the two economies and societies will be a multi-generational process.
August 2015: Shooting, Shouting, and Negotiating in Inter-Korean Relations
Like the standoff over the Kaesong Industrial Complex when North Korea pulled its workers in April 2013, the Park Geun-hye administration was able to stand firm and bring North Korea to the table.
The DMZ: An Opportunity for Science Diplomacy
What do the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Guantanamo Bay, and the Galapagos islands have in common? While two of the three serve important national security functions, all three share a quality that is unique and unlike anywhere else on the planet, vibrant untouched ecosystems that boast endangered and endemic species.