NK on reunification

[JBeukema]

wow...

 

[georgephillip]

From the Wall Street Journal August, 2010:

"For a decade, South Koreans were snowballed by their leaders into thinking North Korea wasn't a real threat and that reunification would be so expensive it was better not to bother. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak doesn't believe these Pollyannaish views—and neither should the South Korean people.

"That's the real value in the stir Mr. Lee created Sunday by suggesting a 'reunification tax' to fund the eventual costs of absorbing North Korea when the regime in Pyongyang collapses.

"The tax idea appears to have been announced with minimal preparation and key details are still undecided.

"But Mr. Lee's idea helps set the terms for a much-needed public discussion about an endgame for the North.

"Mr. Lee has already established himself as a realist. He ended nearly 10 years of blindly shipping aid to the North with minimal accountability.

"He has called for Kim Jong Il to end his nuclear program, in exchange for a Marshall-like development plan.

"He has protectively restarted intelligence operations and drawn closer to allies like Japan and the United States. He has also been firm in trying to hold Pyongyang to account for sinking a South Korean navy vessel in March and killing 46 sailors."

The US Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII has been described as US taxpayers dollars flowing into Europe at the same time capital flight from rich Europeans was flowing into New York banks.