(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Sean Burton

When considering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989-90, many people think of German "reunification." But it was not a "coming together" between the capitalism of the Federal Republic of Germany and the socialism of the German Democratic Republic. The FRG simply absorbed the East and dismantled its system; to this day there exist significant differences in living standards.

     Now to Korea. Korean reunification, if it ever happens the way Seoul sees it, is not likely to be much different. Any visitor to the South or to the Demilitarized Zone will hear much ado about Koreans' yearning for reunification. That is both a sentimental statement and a statement of propaganda. The local news gives a more accurate picture. Always, the media reports that the government must have some plan or other for reunification. The powerful right-wing rags often put forward such plans or make demands of the government, and Seoul is certainly listening.

     One such demand, elaborated in an editorial some months ago in the Chosun Ilbo, was that Seoul should be preparing a "new North Korean elite" to run the region after reunification. It is an obvious "plan"; if the DPRK ever were absorbed by the South, it certainly will not be regular North Koreans running affairs. But advocating such a plan is an affront to anyone familiar with what happened in Eastern Europe. These countries have come to be dominated by people trained or raised in the west, who frequently ignore the demands of the majority of their people; consider the mass opposition to the US missile shield in the Czech Republic or Poland that both governments eagerly endorse. Now imagine North Korea being run by a former Hyundai CEO like Lee Myung Bak!

     Another frequent demand is to better integrate North Korean defectors into South Korean life. Some North Koreans did actually defect in the sense of betraying their country, but the majority of the handfuls that trickle in every now and then do so from sheer economic desperation, not unlike some Cubans during the 1990s. Though Seoul "rewards" people for moving south, there exist many difficulties in adapting to the new lifestyle. Problems include a language barrier, since South Korea has adopted a large number of foreign words, and the social stigma of being from the North.

     Stories occasionally pop up about how former North Korean citizens are faring badly in the South. According to a recent Korea Herald article, over half of all defectors are avoiding employment. A cynic might say that the DPRK's socialist system made them lazy workers. The hard truth is that getting a job would mean giving up unemployment benefits. In the survey, 38% said that doing so would deprive them of a liveable income, and others did not want to lose their state-provided health care.

     Clearly, many of these people are just getting by, despite often having specialized skills. The survey was conducted at the behest of Hong Jung-wook, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, who stated that former North Koreans should not be the dropouts of society.

     One may well wonder what Hong thinks of the many "normal" South Koreans who cannot make ends meet. A labour project for the "underprivileged" that started in June 2009 has employed 255,500 people in social maintenance projects that will last only into November. These few months will not solve anything for the poor of South Korea. Furthermore, an inspection has revealed that over 15,000 participants in the program are not only unqualified, but also the relatives of government officials. And that is only in Seoul and the adjacent Gyeonggi province.

     The main opposition Democratic Party elaborated on the numbers. Some 4500 participants were said to possess "excessive wealth". About 46% were over the age of 60, and numerous accidents and injuries have occurred because workers were dispatched regardless of labour capacity or age, according to opposition representative Shin Hak Yong.

     Clearly Seoul has trouble taking care of its own people now, so it takes no stretch of the imagination to see what awaits the people of the DPRK if their country is defeated and taken over. Yet the media does not see any connection between the south's social problems and the system advocated by the North. It is always discussed in a cynical, hateful way. Much has been made lately of reports that the DPRK has revised some of its constitution. In particular, communism has apparently been deleted as the guiding ideology, replaced with Kim Jong Il's Songun (military first) policy along with Juche, Kim Il Sung's self-reliance ideology. A clause was also inserted insisting on "regard for and the protection of human rights", the Chosun Ilbo reported. The editorial went on the usual rant against communism, claiming that it never existed in the DPRK or the USSR, and that it never will exist. It further claimed that the differences between typical North Koreans and the county's military elite far outstrip the "imbalances" of capitalism. Adding insult to injury, the editorial called the North's constitution "useless" and argued that it was being amended to appease international pressure.

     There is nothing new in this. Juche and Songun have been the DPRK's primary guiding philosophies for years; direct references to Marxism-Leninism were removed in a previous constitution. As for condemning communism, no one has ever claimed that such a social--economic formation existed anywhere in the last century, and saying it never will exist is typical propaganda. And to refer to the vast inequalities and injustices of capitalism as simple "imbalances" is despicable. Data readily available in the South has demonstrated just how vast the gap is. South Korea does not need to train a new elite for the North; they have always existed in the South and they have always been leading the charge. Just as there was no equality in German unification, there will be no quarter given in Korea either.