Korea today with unification in the mid 90s

If North Korea collapsed in 1990 and some general took over with control of the government and successfully managed to reach an agreement with the South by the mid 90s on unification, what would unification likely entail and how would Korea as a whole look right now?
 
Remember German reunification? Korean unification would look similar, only much worse. While it's not as drastic as a theoretical unification now, there was a pretty huge economic and infrastructural gap between the Koreas, like with East and West Germany. However, in the 1990s and now, North Korea was much more populous than East Germany while South Korea was less populous than West Germany, making economic and social integration much more difficult than in Germany.

But, overcoming that, the united Korean economy would be much stronger by the present day, probably becoming one of the top 8 world economies, if the north can successfully be absorbed and its mineral wealth and manpower can be optimized with modern technology. Total population would exceed 80 million (currently 75 million) at least as the famines that have devastated the north since 1990 would be averted and all the refugees fleeing into China to get to somewhere else (sometimes China, sometimes South Korea, always somewhere outside of North Korea) wouldn't be going into China and probably would stay put. So total population somewhere between 80 and 90 million, probably.

The northern border with China would become quite a bit more militarized, seeing as China's not too comfortable with the US on its border and the territorial disputes that might flare up due to Mt. Baekdu and the surrounding area, like the Yanbian province and the rest of Jiandao. While not the DMZ, it would be pretty hard to pass through from Manchuria to northern Korea.

On the DMZ though, a fun idea would be the conversion of the DMZ to a state park. Untouched for decades (due to all the mines), it'd one of the most pristine wildlife sanctuaries in the world and a potential tourist hotspot (once they get rid of all the mines).

Without a perpetually hostile neighbor, though, there wouldn't need to be a draft and the Korean military would be a great deal smaller than OTL North+South Korea's militaries put together (though that's not saying too much). Still, there'd be a strong military presence with China and Russia so close by.

Culturally, K-Dramas would have way more focus on Korean (Joseon) history back before the partition and family reunions (say a family separated during the Korean War finding their way back to each other) to help smooth over regional differences and breed a sense of fraternity. Northerners would still probably be second class citizens, though, and looked down upon as uneducated, shorter, and more prone to crime (the last bit due to being discriminated against) like Joseonjok are in OTL South Korea.

Politically, there'd be plenty of Red-Scare sorts in the south (with 2/3 of the population), so conservative parties reigning supreme would be likely for a while. Anti-Kim-ifying the region would be necessary to long term stability so the peninsula will be pretty unstable for a while. The north will likely stay as one bloc, the south might splinter later, but northern politicians will be fighting the stigma of communist sympathies for decades.

Anyways, I imagine it'd be something like the above. A mixed bag, certainly, but almost certainly better than what we have in OTL.
 
I wonder if the North would have the strongest anti-communists once exposed to the reality of NK or be very indoctrinated even to the present?

I’m guessing a lot of both.
 
There are plans to do this, but in my opinion it would still be a mess. A merger of a first world country with a third world one that would fuel resentment on every side.

I think it should be a gradual process, not an outright union.
 
There are plans to do this, but in my opinion it would still be a mess. A merger of a first world country with a third world one that would fuel resentment on every side.

I think it should be a gradual process, not an outright union.
Combine that with asian financial crisis around the corner.
 
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The northern border with China would become quite a bit more militarized, seeing as China's not too comfortable with the US on its border and the territorial disputes that might flare up due to Mt. Baekdu and the surrounding area, like the Yanbian province and the rest of Jiandao. While not the DMZ, it would be pretty hard to pass through from Manchuria to northern Korea.

...

I'd expect the US to have a very low profile in the new Korea. Maybe nothing more that a robust military liaison as a permanent presence, and regular naval and air force or army exercises. If the US retains its naval and air bases in Japan, then joint Korea/US exercises should be enough.
 
Remember German reunification? Korean unification would look similar, only much worse.
Korea would have the advantage of legally still being at war, just as the Allies did in Germany after WWII it would allow South Korea to institute a military government and occupy the North giving them a freer hand. Keep the borders sealed, ship in food and clothing to fix the immediate crises, over time carry out a thorough de-Communisation programme, boost education, and start teaching the population what the outside world is actually like. Fund it by using the North as a large low-cost manufacturing centre that can compete with places like China on price, at least to begin with, and extracting North Korea's natural resources whilst you rebuild it.


The northern border with China would become quite a bit more militarized, seeing as China's not too comfortable with the US on its border...
Would there be US troops on China's border? With the war now over and won I could see US forces leaving the peninsula as part of the peace deal. Certain sections of South Koreas population wouldn't mind seeing them going. If South Korea still felt the need to keep some form of presence then a reduction in numbers to more of a tripwire size, realistically if China decided to invade even with modern troops levels they wouldn't be enough, and unofficial agreement to keep them within South Korean territory would probably suffice. The main US presence can continue to be in Japan.
 
A unified Korea assuming its not a total scorched earth reunification would be a serious economic powerhouse. Several of the Koreans I know have told me that traditionally, the North Koreans were the hardest working Koreans. With an even not totally dysfunctional governmental and economic system they'd become a very rich country very fast.
 
A unified Korea assuming its not a total scorched earth reunification would be a serious economic powerhouse. Several of the Koreans I know have told me that traditionally, the North Koreans were the hardest working Koreans. With an even not totally dysfunctional governmental and economic system they'd become a very rich country very fast.

Note: my sources are some 10 years old.

North Koreans, despite being genetically akin to southerners, are on average 8cm shorter. Child malnutrition also has cognitive effects, which are compounded by the nearly useless educational system except for the elites.

So, unless they plan on converting the northern countries into a gigantic textile mill, work ethics will serve only up to a point.
We're looking at a multi-generational heavy investment in education and infrastructure to obtain what you say and who knows what the world will look like by then.
 
Korea would have the advantage of legally still being at war, just as the Allies did in Germany after WWII it would allow South Korea to institute a military government and occupy the North giving them a freer hand. Keep the borders sealed, ship in food and clothing to fix the immediate crises, over time carry out a thorough de-Communisation programme, boost education, and start teaching the population what the outside world is actually like. Fund it by using the North as a large low-cost manufacturing centre that can compete with places like China on price, at least to begin with, and extracting North Korea's natural resources whilst you rebuild it.
Politics is one matter; I was discussing the economic ramifications of unification in that bit. Modernizing East Germany's infrastructure to match the West's was enormously expensive, to the tune of 2 trillion euros over 20 years, and the East is still poorer than the West. Extracting natural resources would be part of the cost as well and, with North Korea being more populous than East Germany and South Korea being less populous than West Germany, the economic impact would be more severe. Using the North for cheap labour isn't going to solve how massive the costs are going to be, the North's unemployment and poverty once it is exposed to the far more competitive world economy (self-sufficiency sucks when it turns out some of your industries are lacking compared to more specialized foreign competitors, like the entire North Korean textile industry based on synthetic coal-based cloth compared to anyone using literally any other material found in bulk in the rest of the world, and you don't have the ability to shut them out any more), and the need to restructure the whole economy along with the entire infrastructural base of the nation from probably the ground up.

It's little wonder reunification has lost so much popularity with the current generation (that and the fact that most families split by the partition and war are now passing away). It'll would've been and would be frightfully expensive.

The military government approach would probably be a bit of an issue too, seeing as South Korea's political history has been marred by human rights abuses and anticommunist actions there have seen quite a few casualties.
Would there be US troops on China's border? With the war now over and won I could see US forces leaving the peninsula as part of the peace deal. Certain sections of South Koreas population wouldn't mind seeing them going. If South Korea still felt the need to keep some form of presence then a reduction in numbers to more of a tripwire size, realistically if China decided to invade even with modern troops levels they wouldn't be enough, and unofficial agreement to keep them within South Korean territory would probably suffice. The main US presence can continue to be in Japan.
United Korea in this case is still a US ally with ties to US military industries. The PRC threw a fuss when South Korea install the THADD missile defense system a few years ago, seeing it as a threat to their power projection in Asia, and it'll probably stay the same if Korea reunified. Historical borders and minorities in NE Asia are still contentious so that'd be a potential flashpoint, so the Chinese will be viewing that border warily.
 
If North Korean had its regime change in 95 and was fully transitioned into South Korea by 2000, what would stop its economy from growing by 12% per year per capita?
 
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