The notable economic and social problems that have developed in North Korea have spurred recent talks to reunify North and South Korea. While this move has been judged by many analysts to be a positive move toward establishing political stability in the Far East, the reality is that this situation carries with it a host of problems. Although many analysts have attempted to compare the reunification of North and South Korea to the unification that occurred between East and West Germany in 1990, the extent of the social, political and economic issues that have developed in North and South Korea are much more extensive. As such, it is difficult for either experts or governments to know for sure how the process of reunification will impact outcomes for both countries.
[...] For instance, Liu argues that, food crisis is simply a symptom of the failure of North Korea's socialist central agricultural planning policies; even without recent natural disasters, it is widely recognized that the North Korean people would be unable to produce enough food to attain agricultural self-sufficiency” (32). What this effectively suggests is that if the North Korean political and economic system were to collapse in the next few years, South Korea would have to address all of these issues when it comes to the process of reunification. [...]
[...] Conclusion Synthesizing all of the information that has been presented in this investigation, it becomes quite obvious that the road to unification for Korea will be plagued with a number of hardships. For South Korea, the challenges of integrating a socialist regime into a capitalist system is one that carries with it considerable problems. Further given the extent of the social and economic problems that exist in North Korea, assuming the burden of this responsibility through creating a unified Korean state may carry with it considerable hardship for the citizens of South Korea. [...]
[...] Considering the specific reasons as to why South Korea should unify in the present rather than choosing to wait, it is evident that as long as the North Korean government remains in power, the social, economic and political problems that have been wrought as a consequence of socialist policies will only continue to become exacerbated. North Korean citizens will not be able to effectively garner the social and economic resources that they need to meet their daily needs. This situation will be aggravated by the international community's overall response to the actions taken by the North Korean government. [...]
[...] For instance, one author examining the history of Korea makes the following observations: Once the country was divided into two parts, Korean citizens on both sides were practically forced to accept for themselves an alien political system; i.e. a capitalistic system in the South and a communist system in the North. Under these totally different conditions, the people in each political system have been disparately socialized in varying ways to such a great degree that eventually Koreans in the two systems have acquired different personality and value premises (Shuja, 66). [...]
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