Danger! Korean reunification in historical perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the possibilities for, and obstacles to, the reunification of North and South Korea based on the experiences of the reunifications of Italy, the United States and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. Common elements of these reunifications include a slow convergence of incomes and productivity of regions, important political barriers to the creation of a unified state and the need to neutralize as far as possible the power of the economic, political and social elites of the units being incorporated into the newly-created state. I find that these problems occur in all cases examined, and, based on these findings I offer policy recommendations for possible Korean unification.