after cold war, east and west germany became one nation...why this reunion not happened between n and s korea?

Answer 1

North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, was not merely a dreary Stalinist tyrant. As defectors from his country will tell you, he was also a popular anti-Japanese guerrilla leader in the mold of Enver Hoxha, the Stalinist tyrant of Albania who led his countrymen in a successful insurgency against the Nazis. Nor is his son Kim Jong Il anything like the childish psychopath parodied in the film Team America: World Police. It’s true that Kim Jong Il was once a playboy. But he has evolved into a canny operator.

And Kim is hardly impulsive: he has the equivalent of think tanks studying how best to respond to potential attacks from the United States and South Korea—attacks that themselves would be reactions to crises cleverly instigated by the North Korean government in Pyongyang.

In other divided countries of the twentieth century—Vietnam, Germany, Yemen—the forces of unity ultimately triumphed. But history suggests that unification does not happen through a calibrated political process in which the interests of all sides are respected. Rather, it tends to happen through a cataclysm of events that, piles of white papers and war-gaming exercises notwithstanding, catches experts by surprise.

In fact, what terrifies South Koreans more than North Korean missiles is North Korean refugees pouring south. The Chinese, for their part, have nightmare visions of millions of North Korean refugees heading north over the Yalu River into Manchuria.

Kim Jong Il learned a powerful lesson by watching the fall of the Ceausescu Family Regime, in Romania: Take utter and complete control of the military.

Of course, South Korea would bear the brunt of the economic and social disruption in returning the peninsula to normalcy. No official will say this out loud, but South Korea—along with every other country in the region—has little interest in reunification, unless it were to happen gradually over years or decades. The best outcome would be a South Korean protectorate in much of the North, officially under an international trusteeship, that would keep the two Koreas functionally separate for a significant period of time. This would allow each country time to prepare for a unified Korean state, without the attendant chaos.

Answer 2

The only thing stopping East and West Germany from uniting was the Soviet Union. East Germany was basically a puppet state. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, there was nothing preventing the two countries from reuniting.

That isn't the case with the Koreas. North Korea is an independent communist nation, and it's leaders are in control of their own madness. They aren't taking directions from anyone else. They have no desire to unify with the south.

Answer 3

Excellent question. The US divided Korea at the 38th Parallel in 1945 to permit its Soviet Communist allies to accept Japanese military surrender in the northern part of Korea. The Soviets only entered the war against Japan after US dropped atomic bomb. Essentially, the US betrayed Korean people and turned northern Korea over to the Communists. Why isn't Korea unified? Korea has always been a source of contention between Russia, China, and Japan. Japan believes Korea is "a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan." A divided Korea acts as a buffer between traditional enemies of China, Russia, and Japan. A divided Korea has also been a guarantee that US troops will occupy southern part of peninsula. Two major wars, the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War have been fought over Korea, not to mention the 1950-53 conflict. Only the Koreans can reunify the two Koreas.

Answer 4

In the case of Germany, what kept the East and the West apart was the Soviet Union. After it collapsed, there was nothing to stop the reunification of Germany.

North Korea is not quite a puppet nation, even though without massive Chinese support, it couldn't survive on its own,. The North is still run by, frankly, assclowns who haven't figured out that communism doesn't work, and they have a million-man army to back up their stupidity. North and South Korea are slowly on the way to reunification, but I don't see it happening with Kim Jong Il in power in North Korea.

Answer 5

C = JD, thats a pretty stupid statement. East Germany was communist and West Germany was democratic, and they still found a way to reunite.

The truth is that East Germany was not ruled by a dictator, like North Korea is. Kim Jong Il does whatever is necessary to keep himself in power, which means avoiding reunification. East Germany in 1989 did not have as strong of a government, and saw reunification with the west as a way to solve its economic problems.

Answer 6

The North's stated intention is reunification of the Korean penninsula. With that in mind, a military force has been geared for offensive war. As of this date, a cease fire is in existence between the UN and NorKor. The US 2nd Infantry Division is stationed south of the DMZ on ready alert. Tactical nukes are in the bullpen off the coast in SLBMs and nearby air bases, to counter the edge in manpower if an invasion does occur.

The cold war has not stopped on the Korean penninsula, in fact a hot war is just a hair trigger away. Both sides routinely shoot at each other for minor encroachments, to test eachs others alert status. Trust me, the german unification is no reflection on the current tensions in Korea.

Answer 7

Because North Korea wants to invade an conquer S. Korea.

East Germany reunited with West Germany because they collapsed politically and economically. We have to wait for N. Korea to collapse before the Korea's can be united.

Answer 8

The difference now is that North Korea is a heavily armed nuclear threat controlled by a sociopath dictator. The Korean DMZ is saturated with more conventional firepower than anywhere else on Earth by far. Sorry, but the guy complaining that it's somehow Democrats' fault that NK hasn't been toppled is not in touch with reality. No Republican President or Senator since the "end" of the Korean conflict has advocated some kind of invasion of the North. General MacArthur couldnt even finish the job and he was much more insane than even the most hardcore warmongering Republican. Truman (R) put him in his place.

Answer 9

N and S Korea are technically still at war.

The last 50 years has not been peace, but a "ceasefire"

Do not confuse communism with democracy, they are not mutually exclusive. They are not opposites. You can have elected leaders under a communist style government. You can have have a president appointed by the supreme court in the US (supposedly a democracy).

N Korea is a dictatorship. Communism is supposed to make everyone equal, I don't think N Korea is really working to help every citizen. Therefore, they are communist only in title.

Answer 10

Wow...this is a big question for such a small forum...let me sum it up:

Germany was able to reunify because of the collapsing Soviet Union's inability to enforce control of East Germany.

North Korea is tightly bound to Communist China, and China is giving no indication that they will fall any time soon.