What is probably at work here, is a realignment of the South Korean bureacracy.
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's conservative president-elect revealed plans Wednesday to scrap the government ministry that has preached reconciliation with North Korea, after pledging to be tougher on Pyongyang than his liberal predecessors.The honest truth is- Anyone who thinks the Koreas will unite peaceably while Kim Jong-IL is still alive, is living in cloud cuckoo land. Unification of the Koreas will not happen without vast costs passed on to South Koreans. This is not East and West Germany. Instead it is a regional economic powerhouse and one of the most dysfunctional countries/economies on this planet. If and when North and South Korea unite, the people in the south will be taking on the equivalent of 20 plus million welfare recipients.The Unification Ministry has been at the forefront of South Korea's efforts to reach out to the North, sending the impoverished communist nation food and other aid.
Though the ministry's duties are to be transferred to the Foreign Ministry, its closure is an important symbolic shift for the government in its interaction with its communist neighbor and efforts to get the North to give up its nuclear programs.
"The issue of unification should be handled consistently with foreign policies," the transition team of President-elect Lee Myung-bak wrote in a report on the proposed changes.
For political reasons, South Korean leaders have to pay lip service to bringing the Koreas together. I don't really expect much of a change on the Korean peninsula either resulting from this news or the recent election of Lee Myung-bak.
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