4 ANALYSIS & FEATURE FRIDAY AUGUST 28, 2009

Should Korea return to three kingdoms?

Many of the obstacles for Korean unification come from other countries
By Chris Williams

The talks between Pyong-

yang’s Kim Ki-nam, Unification
Minister Hyun In-taek and
President Lee Myung-bak were
unexpected, but not surprising.
Even after his death, Kim Dae-
jung has the power to bring
Koreans together.
The earlier meeting between
Kim Jong-il and Hyun Jung-
eun, the head of the Hyundai
Group, was similar. It seems
that cross-border activities at
Gaeseong industrial region will
re-start, and families divided by
the war will again be able to
meet. Chris Williams
Apart from his ability to bring ● Chris Williams is based at the
Koreans together, Kim also dis- Center for International
played another crucial leader- Education and Research,
ship quality — vision. Perhaps University of Birmingham,
there is a window of opportunity United Kingdom.
for some more visionary think-
● He can be reached at
ing about “progress on inter-
Korean cooperation,” which is chrisunula@yahoo.com
not constrained by the political
realities of the present.
To inspire creative thinking,
architects sometimes used the
idea of “skyhooks.” The point
was to ignore the reality that a
building required an internal
structure — a skeleton — to
keep it up. And then to ask,
what might a building look like
if it could simply be attached to
hooks in the sky?
In 1977, Paris saw “skyhooks”
become reality. The Pompidou
Centre put the skeleton on the
outside, and hooked the body of
the building to it. Thirty years
later it is not astonishing to see
buildings like this, particularly
airports and factories. When
British architect Richard
Rogers received the Pritzker
Prize for creating the center, the
New York Times said that the
design “turned the architecture
world upside-down.”
How might the architecture of
the Korean peninsula be turned Perhaps a company or news- brought England and Scotland Few non-Scots know that, al- these, and they fetch higher regional governments, and fed- efficient management, com-
upside down, with some “sky- paper in Korea could inspire together and, with a few small though laws are broadly similar prices. eralism have been more the bined with a cheap labor force in
hooks” thinking? something similar. What vision upheavals and modifications, across Britain, the Scottish legal How does this relate to a vi- norm than the exception. the North, which shares a lan-
I was living in South Africa in might emerge? If commission- the island has stayed unified. system is based on French not sion for Korea? Here is another Division has not always in- guage, culture and history,
1986, at a time when there ing “skyhook” thinking, those The devolution at the end of English principles. Scots courts seemingly irrelevant “skyhook.” spired peace, but in Europe could quickly become the most
seemed no hope of an end to the concerned should be told to for- the 1990s, creating a separate even have a very useful verdict The Japanese government has alone it is astonishing how efficient economic power-house
divisive Apartheid regime. But get about “How we get there,” as parliament in Scotland and a between “guilty” and “not been proving aid to Bosnia- many formally divided entities in Asia. But, that would not be
a few forward looking compa- in South Africa, but also to for- Welsh Assembly, optimizes the guilty” — “not proven”. This was Herzegovina for demining now live in cooperative harmo- welcomed by America and oth-
nies quietly funded a remark- get about military aspects. advantages of diversity within once explained by a judge, to a fields, and for organic farming. ny. ers.
able series of studies. Disarmament is a priority im- unity. Last week, the arguments bemused English defendant, as The two endeavors are linked. Switzerland grew from the China demonstrates this dy-
They commissioned creative posed on Korean thinking by Swiss Confederation and an ini- namic to some degree, but the
experts to envision how each other countries. tial “Peace Association,” be- region is too large and unwieldy,
of the public sectors would op- A “skyhook” view of recent tween thee “Forest Cantons”, in and the cultural differences too
erate in a post-Apartheid era, discussions might not propose
People forget that Britain is really three countries,four if Northern 1291. Around this time France wide, to optimize its diversity.
when race groups were not that Korea should be one entity, Ireland is counted separately.T his is forgotten, because now it is evolved from more than a dozen Russia is similar. Counties such
separated, and “black”, “col- but maybe not two. What might, regional powers, into two main as Cambodia, Vietnam, and
ored” and “Asian” people were in the words of sociologist
unproblematic.T he Acts of Union in 1207 brought England Kingdoms, France and Arles. Laos have the cheap labor force.
not required to stay in their Anthony Giddens, the “third and Scotland together and, with a few small upheavals and For centuries, well before the But well-educated managers
“townships” and “homelands”. way” be? What about a peninsu- recent East-West divide, and administrators, and skilled
A similar set of reports about lar of three regions, one modifications,the island has stayed unified. Germany was similar. Prussia technical workers, are in short
the commercial sector was Northern, one Southern and one and the Austro-Hungarian supply.
produced. Looking at how sim- linking North and South. For Empire came about through Japan is now essentially a
ilar situations had turned out, now, we could perhaps call the about the compassionate meaning, “Not guilty, but don’t Mined fields have been free of “unifications” between 1815-71. middle-class nation. It has to
in the past, was a central as- new region “Hyundailand.” grounds for the return to Libya do it again.” pesticides and synthetic fertiliz- And despite much turmoil, import Japanese exiles from
pect. Of course, the vision of the of Abdelbaset al Megrahi, who Devolution and diversity can ers for more than a decade, and Germans now extol the virtues Brazil to create a cheap labor
The experts were told to for- Korean peninsula divided into was in prison for the plane inspire vision and progress. In demining is cheaper than decon- of a federal system of govern- force in its car factories, and
get about the problem, “How three is not new. In the sixth bomb over the Scottish town 2004, the Welsh Assembly abol- tamination of a field. Cambodia ment. even that is not sufficient.
do we achieve a unified coun- century it functioned very effi- Lockerbie and had developed ished a very destructive school and Vietnam are similar. Belgium encompasses Dutch- There are now plans for a large-
try?” They were told simply to ciently as Goguryeo, Silla, and terminal cancer, drew much testing system at age 11 and 14, What of the potential for speaking Flanders, and French- scale immigration of skilled la-
envision how a unified popula- Baekje. And there is nothing criticism, especially from the British Standards Northern Korea to become the speaking Wallonia, with a small bor through immigrant pro-
tion would function. The pur- unique about living in a nation America. Assessment Tests (SATS). Four organic breadbasket of Asia? It German speaking minority in grams offering education to
pose was not to create a per- divided into three countries Never mind who is right. The years later, when it was realized might also become a source of the East. Since 2007 it seems to people from less developed
fect strategic plan, but to show with a poorer nationalistic important thing is that this was that schools did not fall apart non-carbon energy — hydro, demonstrate that unified coun- countries.
different scenarios for how a North and a richer cosmopolitan a Scottish minister taking a de- without SATS, England fol- wave and wind farms. A tries can even manage without Whether or not it involves a
unified country could work. A south. I live in a nation like cision about a Scottish issue, lowed. “Hyundailand,” providing the a government. “Hyundailand,” any “skyhooks”
key purpose of the reports re- that. which Scottish people have The Welsh Assembly has also technical and managerial assis- Many of the impediments to a vision for the peninsular is like-
flected the “light at the end of People forget that Britain is elected him to take. Scottish law taken firm action to deter the tance in a politically neutral more unified Korea come from ly to come to a simple conclu-
the tunnel” principle — that a really three countries, four if is more compassionate than introduction of genetically mod- way, could be pivotal. other countries. It does not take sion. One thing is likely to unify
difficult journey can appear Northern Ireland is counted American law, and Scottish ified (GM) crops, on the grounds A few moments browsing an economist to work out that a Korea quicker than anything
easier if you believe that separately. This is forgotten, be- politicians are less influenced of protecting contamination of through the ever-fascinating cooperating Korea could become else — when all Koreans realize
things will be OK when you cause now it is unproblematic. American pressure than their organically grown and non-GM “Philip’s Atlas of World History” economically very strong. The why the rest of the world does
get to the end. The Acts of Union in 1207 English counterparts. crops. Many consumers prefer shows that divided countries, South’s high-tech systems and not want it to happen.

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