North and South Korea Far Apart

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Young North Koreans who have defected to the South are determined to see their dream - a unified Korea - become reality, even if their counterparts in the South don’t quite agree.

"My dream is to get the two Koreas united. In a united Korea, I will run a shelter to feed hungry North Koreans," said 20-year-old Yu Chull-Min (not his real name), a North Korean studying at Yomyung School in Seoul where students from the North, aged 16 to 24, are finishing high school.

But this lofty dream often gets lost in confusion and sometimes humiliation, as these young North Korean realise how different they are from South Korean youths.


The biggest difference is their divergence on the unification issue. In a unification camp rally held in April, undergraduates from both South and North gathered to talk about their vision on the unification of two Koreas.

"Why should we bother to unify two Koreas?" said a student from South Korea. "We must recognise that two Koreans have drifted too far away from each other. Therefore, wouldn't it be more comfortable for two Koreas to stay apart as it is now?"

A dozen North Korean students in the meeting were taken aback. "How shocked I was," said Lee Hyun- Ji (not his real name) a 25-year-old student from the North.

"The way she talks is a far departure from the way we used to speak in North Korea. Back in the 1990s when I was kid in the North, we falsely believed South Koreans were worse off than we were. And our dream was to unify two Koreas so that we may help South Korea with food."

Even more frustrating for North Korean students was the thought that the South Korean’s views seemed to represent the opinion of the majority of South Korean students on the reunifications. "Many of our friends believe two Koreas are too different to stay together in the same state entity," said Kim Ju-Ri, 21, a South Korean student in Handong University in the southern city of Pohang.

Yomyung School vice-president Jo Myung-Sook explained why unification is a desperate dream for North Koreans. "Because the unification is the only way for them to reunite with their families that they had left behind," she said. "Also, it is the only way for them to get the starving North Koreans out of the hunger and poverty."

Most of these North Koreans endured not only separation from their families, but also the pain and terror crossing the border from North Korea into China, and then on to the South.

Many believe that South Korean students are more individualistic, while North Korean students are more united in their group-minded pursuit of unification.

The difference explains why South Koreans appear indifferent or insensitive to North Korean students. "We South Koreans have our own individual goal to pursue. We would rather pass it unless it is something compelling to serve our purpose," said Lee Min-A, a 23-year-old undergraduate studying economics in Handong University.

The contrast between South Koreans’ focus on individual merit, against North Koreans’ group-oriented attitude, became more pronounced this year, after turmoil plagued South Korea 's top science university in the wake of four suicides. Four students killed themselves amid mounting pressure to get high grades.

The difference in level of education between students from North and South is also obvious. North Koreans students realise soon enough that they lag far behind their South Korean peers in areas of study that do not exist in the North, such as English and computers. As a result, North Korean students have to deal with technology-oriented language they could not pick up.

"I just smile it away, even though I do not understand what South Korean peers say, pretending to get it. Because I don't want to let South Korean peers think I am different," said Yu Chull-Min at Yomyung School. Yu occasionally encounters South Korean peers in his work as a volunteer helping the homeless.

Another difference is that South Koreans are used to luxuries alien to youths from the North. "I felt the outrage when I saw students here did not eat all of (their) food just because they don't like it," said Lee Hyun-Ji (not her real name), a student who fled North Korea.

"When I see leftover food, I am reminded of North Korean children who were starved to death (when I was there)," said Lee, who arrived in South Korea in 2006 via China.

The food scarcity that has plagued at least one-third of the 23 million North Korean population since the 1990s is the major reason some 10,000 North Koreans have left their hometowns, crossed the border into China, and finally settled in South Korea.

The differences are a source of frustration for North Koreans. "The gap between their dream and reality often ends up being a disheartened mind that leads some of them to turn to smoke and alcohol," said Jo Myung-Sook.

On the other hand, there are those who see the differences as a chance for young North Koreans in the South to bridge the gap when the two Koreas are united. The new reality that North Koreans are feeling to the South is a window to what lies ahead for North Koreans when the two Koreas are eventually reunited.

"For this reason, we believe we are going to take up a bridge role between two Koreas when two Koreas are united," said Lee Hyun-Ji.

Source: ipsnews

Comments

[madelyn93.livejournal.com]

yes, most south koreans say that they want unification, but secretly they'll prefer it if things stayed the way it was. if the koreas were unified, imagine the amount of funds that would be needed to reduce the income gap.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

As a South Korean, as cold and heartless as this is, I don't want to see unification happen :/

Unless:
a. North Korea comes close to reaching the same level as our economic strength
b. Unification happens real slowly with a good workforce education in the North
c. a lot of foreign investors are willing to pour money into revitalizing North Korea.

Unification is a nice idea (we were all taught to want unification in school afterall) but the economic/financial repercussions of it are too overwhelming.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

i think you demand something of north korea that the people there cannot fulfill on their own. how should they reach the same economic strength as sk without help from outsiders? it would mainly have to be sk that aides in that aspect. you can't expect foreign countries to invest in north korea if the south is not willing to do the biggest part of investment.
the economical repercussions are the main problems but they can't be solved by other people than the koreans themselves. not only nk or sk people alone but together. and therefore sk people would have to be willing to maybe sacrifice a little bit of their standards to empower nk citizens to help themselves and in the end reach the same level as sk. they can't do that from scratch.
the point i agree upon is, that there must be a good workforce education in the north so that unification can slowly happen. but this needs a political grounding and willingness from both parties.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

I don't see how North Korea is South Korea's responsibility. It's been much too long, and very few people can claim they have any property or relatives up there.

My grandmother was only a little girl (or was her mom a little girl? The story is unclear) when her parents fled North Korea from running a huge apple orchid, and I know my mom has no intentions of going to North Korea to claim said orchid even if unification happens.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's sk's responsibility per se but nk and sk are sharing a past history and for me as a former eastern german i would feel kind of attached to someone my 'own folk'. i do see that history in germany and korea went very differently but for me the sentiment would feel the same in the end. it's not so much about claims over land or family gatherings in the end except for individual cases. you share the same language and same past, maybe same religious beliefs, no?
but if most south koreans feel the way you do and politicians/people don't bring about a change in thinking i can't quite see a unification either. it's just wishful thinking on the part of north koreans then.

[neumi.livejournal.com]

I know this isn't really similar, but half of my family is from Trinidad, and yeah... I've never been there, don't care to visit, and wouldn't want any of them waltzing in on my American thing I've got going if it were going to crash the economy and start a huge war.

[hillando.livejournal.com]

late to the party but oh well

I see where you're coming from and although I'm not Korean I do agree with you.
If unification happens all at once, the mass migration to South Korea will be so massive that it will damage the infrastructure there. The economic gap between the two countries is too great for a seamless unification. And as nice as the talks of "SK giving up a bit of their wealth for NK and then rebuilding it together" are, it's just not possible. The gap is too wide. It will take decades to close it -Eastern Germany is still poorer than the west and their unification was relatively painless. SK's economy just wouldn't be able to take it without copious amounts of foreign aid. And as sad as it sounds, most humans talk about helping the less fortunate, but when it actually comes to giving up some of their own fortune in order to do so they refuse. :|

Whoah, wall of text. Sorry about that.

[x3sarang.livejournal.com]

I don't think most people want an actual unification. They'd be scared if it was something that was imminent and actually very viable in the near future, and would affect them adversely in any way. Someone's going to have to take responsibility for all the economic and social problems that NK has left if their rule ever ends, and although on an ideal level unification is glorious and great on a practical level it's rather unfeasible. Even if China and USA help, SK will have to bear the brunt of the repercussion and I'm betting you that all the people crowing about how unification is a good idea will eat their words.

[sandra-hall.livejournal.com]

did west germany want reunification?
/attempting to draw parallels

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

well i'm not from the west originally but in my memories of tales told they were happy for us to be 'free' now. they wanted us to reunite with our families and have a 'better' standard in living. but in the end it was them paying for equal standards (at least in the beginning) and even until now older generations are bothered by the different mindsets of the other party and westeners sometimes still think they are 'the only ones' paying for equal standards, which is not true at all.

while we had a lot of run-down/poorly build factories and no money for improvements (which then came from the west ofc), we did not starve or were 'poorly educated'. losing the mindset of communist ruling was one thing but in terms of educational standards we were not really behind in anything. i think that's a big difference to the korean issues.

[star-riku.livejournal.com]

I support reunification, but obviously some work needs to be done first. The regime needs to be taken out, a interim government needs to be put in while reforms are written up and put into action, there needs to be massive reeducation among the population etc. Personally, I wish that internally someone would be put into power that supports reform- China is their ally and I think they'd be willing to help with that. From there it should be decided if reunification should happen- at least open the borders, but then again, that might lead to a influx of immigrants from the north.

I just wish people would back up their arguments against reunification without sounding like they completely disregard that the North Korean people are starving and are in bad shape.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

this, i mean everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and i can respect that (to a certain degree), but it mostly just sounds like they really don't care that there are a lot of people suffering and starving in NK. obviously, NK is nowhere near the level of SK (in terms of economy, education, etc.), and it's kind of crazy to expect them to reach that level by themselves.

idunnoidunnoidunno, it just sounds too cold to me! unification is nice, but my first wish would be to just free the people from the reign of terror, even if it's a reckless and irresponsible wish :(

[itangeisha.livejournal.com]

And i'm forever in my 50/50 mind.
I understand the south koreans who don't want the unification for some reasons, but seeing those north korean students wanting to change their country via unification, the youth is the hope and the future... Huge subject.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

i think the gap between the two koreas is still huge and on both sides propaganda is still to strong to let anything in the direction of unification happen. but if the defectors from the north step up from their 'fate' as being unwanted/poorly educated and in return educate south koreans about their ideals and possibilities for the future it will be much more likely they come to a mutual undertsanding of being one korea and can take measures to grow closer and pave the way for a possible reunification, overcome economic and educational differences and a united korea with more equalities than differences.

in germany it also needed a really run-down state/government and the whole population of former GDR that wanted to freely travel and have more variety in consuming food/goods. they stood up for themselves at a time when the 'regime' was weak and made a lot of mistakes and the east european states and the 'west' were also of the impression a unification and democracy for all of germany was about damn time. it's thanks to the political mindset of states around the GDR that we were able to speak our mind and defend our dreams of being free. if korean government and countries close to korea work in that direction too, only then can reunification be possible.
you can see what it sometimes takes to bring about a revolution - peaceful or not - with the examples of egypt, lybia and other countries right now. it's a task for many decades.

[cindel.livejournal.com]

It's PC to say we want reunification but deep down we don't because of two things: NK people who love dear leader and believe the propaganda and the corruption of SK that might take advantage of the NK resources/exploits of NK people.

Someone needs to tell those NK students that China ain't having it seeing they have a vested interest in keeping them two separated.

[pinkinmoon.livejournal.com]

Many believe that South Korean students are more individualistic, while North Korean students are more united in their group-minded pursuit of unification.

translation: i don't want to share, gtfo starving kids

[newlines.livejournal.com]

tbh, i don't get that statement... students being individualistic does not equal north korean students being untied about unification. unless sk students are individually united against unification (?????)

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

i think it's also a commentary on communism, which is very much oriented toward "the greater good" (in theory). which these students seem to think reunification would be.

[vegasol.livejournal.com]

society can be viewed in two basic ways:
1. individual oriented view. for example most western countries. They put liberty for the individual first, and to persue ones dreams is the highest goal, which will create a hapy and thriving society.
2. society oriented view. for example japan. rather than individuals pursuing their dream, people should make sacrifices for the good of the society all together, and thus make a happy and thriving society.

I think this is kinda interesting ^^ the kind of stuff we learn about in anthropology/stuff

[fizzzzzzzzzzz.livejournal.com]

Not really surprising considering how SK has studied the reunification of East and West Germany and the problems associated with the amalgamation. With the Kim dynasty in power it is not likely to happen, although, the Kim Jung Il's son rule may be rather short leading to eventual reunification. But that wont happen until NK's standard of living is equal to that of SK.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

:( this is sad to me. i'm not saying that unification will be easy, i know it's going to be hard, if it ever happens. but is it really not worth even trying anymore? even if NK gets rid of the communist regime and start over, it's not as if they can just pick themselves back up by themselves.

i suppose i'm being too idealistic, but i want to see the two koreas united again. even though i was born in america, i know that my grandfather's family was from north korea. it has nothing to do with "reclaiming" material possessions or anything like that, it's just helping the people who share the same blood that i do. not even that actually, it's just helping people who need help.

i think the thing i'm bothered most by was the indifferent attitude that south koreans seemingly have towards those from the north, not even on the unification level, but just at an individual level. it hurts when i read things like north korean students struggling in school because they can't keep up. it's also just judgment based on a few articles that i have read, but still, the idea that it is possibly happening...

[thewarpedmelody.livejournal.com]

If they reunite it'll become like East and West Germany, S.Korea's economic growth will stop abruptly and S.Korea has to make alot of sacrifices to help N.Korea. Not sure if the S.Korea youths will want to even help N.Korea, they hardly have any link with N.Korea