earticle

영어

When looking at the surveys on the opinions of unification in Korea, it can be found that many Koreans lost their faith in unification, and even some have negative and neutral way of thinking. In terms of youngsters, they show complete disinterest and negative attitude toward unification. This can be attributed to the 65 years of separation, leading to fixed opinions on unification. In addition, along with the burdening recognition of North Korea, current discussions on unification costs have led people to turn back to unification.
The current discussions on unification costs were calculated on the premise of Germany's economic integration method, which was carried out drastically and instantly in political terms. In other words, it was deducted by applying target-income achieving method which quickly applies the relatively lagging North Korean's income to South Korea's nominal income level (mostly 60 percent of South Korean's income). Similar traits followed on instant consolidation of labor market, without considering industrial and economic structures and stages. This kind of calculation induced astronomical amount of unification costs, and has led to negative attitudes toward unification.
When two Koreas unify, it will become a project of building Unified Korea, greatly
unleashing its growth potential. In other words, the decreased 3 percent-level potential growth rate will be enhanced. In light of this fact, Goldman Sachs has published a 2009 report, arguing that Unified Korea will surpass advanced nations such as Germany and Japan in 30~40 years after unification. Accordingly, unification costs will generate investment profits as time goes by, and it should be recognized in the perspective of opportunity cost. Also, if radical political integration cannot be made, incremental economic integration and projects to develop North Korea is necessary. Furthermore, the economic synergy effect should be enhanced by carrying out economic integration between the two Koreas in the perspective of building a Northeast Asian Economic Community. When economic integration is fulfilled in this way, the unification costs can drastically be reduced. Of course, unification cost is inevitable during the intial stage of unification, but this should be regarded as a "social insurance" which all citizens living in separated countries should burden.