WI:Depopulated North Korea

Is it possible for the people of North Korea to leave North Korea in droves that the officials can't stop them mostly emptying north korea...how would the surrounding countries act on this.
 
Its a tricky one what will happen if the regime falls. They can't all be allowed free movement to the south or that would destroy both of them. China certainly doesn't want them.
I guess there'd need to be international agreements on taking lots of Koreans- a few hundred thousand to the US, tens of thousands to the UK, France and Germany, etc....
But even there we can't take them all...nor would we want to as that would really be damaging for North Korea and any chance of recovery.


Anyway. Depends when we're talking about.
Today/future? Its South Korea's problem. Everyone else will help as best they can.
Cold war and pre China liberalising a bit? Yeah...tricky...China might well try and launch a land grab or att least install a new friendly regime.

The Soviets are the interesting one. Would communism win out or would the Sino-Soviet rivalry push them onto the US side?
The current story I'm writing actually starts with a bit of a 1980s Korean revolution. I'm on the fence about how to go. I would see the Soviets as mediators really, trying to stop the US and China from getting too stupid.
 
East Germany between 1949 and the construction of the Berlin Wall is one precedent. And even then "only" 20% of the population made the free choice to quit.
 
Isn't his already happening to some extent? As far as I know, there are quite a number of North Korean refugees in China, and some already made it to embassies and the like.

Would China decide to end their policy of catching them and sending them back - or at least take a blind eye to what is happening - I guess that we would see a situation where many more North Koreans leave.

Another possibility is the South "buying" North Koreans out from prison camps and the like. West Germany did that to some extent, and North Korea is desperate enough for cash to consider that. That way South Korea could control the exodus to some extent and the North Koreans, being liberated from camps, would be more welcome and easier to integrate, I guess.

Ironically, 20% of the population leaving might actually stabilize the system.
 
Top