South Korea President Mulls Reunification of Korean Peninsula

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been on the rise in 2010, with the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel and a cryptic North Korean artillery bombardment of South Korea waters adding to a simmering crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. It may, therefore, seem like an inauspicious time for South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to put forward a general outline a general program for an eventual reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Yet that it exactly what he has done.

Myung-bak envisions a three-stage process. The first would involve a general peace between North Korea and South Korea, which would include an abandonment of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The second would be an economic phase, in which South Korea would assist North Korea in raising living standards of the North Korean people and developing its economy. The third would be a political stage that would culminate in complete reunification. According to this New York Times article, Myung-bak wants to prepare South Korea for this process by implementing a so-called "unification tax."

This is not so much a plan as a very vague outline, and it certain to be immediately rejected by Kim Jong Il in any event. Yet the very fact that the South Koreans are talking about it is most welcome. Reports indicate that the health of the North Korean dictator is not good, and the international community must prepare for the possibility of a power struggle in North Korea in the event of his death. An outstretched hand of friendship from South Korea could encourage any North Korean faction that wants to bring its country out of its xenophobic isolation and into the modern world.

As with other long-festering international disputes, between the Israelis and Palestinians, between India and Pakistan, or between China and Taiwan, the international community needs to keep the long-term complete resolution of the Korean dispute in mind. Therefore, the proposal of President Lee Myung-bak, even if it was purely rhetorical, is a welcome development.