Is Korean Unification a Possibility?
As a South Korean native, I still remember my first grade teacher asking my class what we wanted to be when we grew up. “The president,” a lot of us answered. “What do you want to do when you’re president?” she asked. “Hanguk tongil”—Korean unification—was the most popular response. To the naive and blindly optimistic six-year-olds we were then, the prospects of living in a unified Korea were about as simple as the understanding that two halves made a whole.
What I have since realized with increasing clarity, however, is that our relationship with North Korea left our realm of control the moment the United Nations Command, China and the Soviet Union joined our fight.
The Korean Armistice Agreement itself, which resulted in the world’s longest ceasefire and has kept my country divided to this day, was not a pact that the two Koreas were initially willing to agree on. While the United States exchanged talks of armistice with China, North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung and South Korean president Syngman Rhee remained grounded in their beliefs that the war needed to end with a unified Korean peninsula, no matter the cost. Perhaps they foresaw the dire consequences we are observing today of such a prolonged civil conflict.
Unfortunately, the decision was not one for a couple of small countries to make, as is often the case in historical disputes. It is bitterly ironic (yet unsurprising) that the divided Koreas were little more than political figureheads in what was really a contest for dominance amongst the bigger global powers.
Admittedly, I lack a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of military logistics. Chances are that casualty rates and material costs were indeed too high for the Korean War to continue until global tensions were boiling at a peak and half of the Korean civilian population had been wiped out. My country is indebted to the millions of soldiers, regardless of their nationality, who lost their lives defending our state. It is absolutely plausible that Korea might have become united under a communist regime had it not been for their intervention and the armistice agreement.
As a country still relying on the United Nations—namely, the U.S.—for protection, the truth of the matter is that South Korea can no longer make any changes in its relationship with North Korea without the wholehearted approval of our guardian, even if those changes are headed in the direction of peace. The same can be said for North Korea, which relies heavily on China for its economic and political support. Indeed, the ongoing development of their nuclear weapon arsenal and the unpredictability of their current leader Kim Jong-Un has recently made North Korea a much more formidable player in the global power gamble of the Korean peninsula. In a time of heightened tensions with North Korea, however, I still maintain that the U.S. and China are the two main players to watch.
With current hostilities being described as a “crisis” in the media, the two halves of my country seem to be farther apart now more than ever. But I remain hopeful. I don’t know how realistic this hope may be, but I have no other option. It upsets me greatly that I can’t go on family hikes up Mount Baekdu, a beautiful volcanic landmark that is mentioned in the very first line of my national anthem, simply because it lies north of the 38th parallel. It pains me to think about all the divided families whose chances of ever seeing their loved ones depend entirely on the mercy of two opposing governments. I can’t bear the thought of Korea becoming a permanently divided nation after five thousand years of a shared history.
And so, even against my better judgement, I continue to hope for a miracle.