South Korea to Host 2018 Winter Olympic Games
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lowtherlore
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That would be awesome! I too think it’s possible we get to witness in this decade a dramatic change in Korean political scene.
BTW, a news report says South Korean officials are measuring the possibility of a unified Korean delegation for 2018.
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Wouldn't reunification be hugely expensive?
I think it would bankrupt South Korea. North Korea is no East Germany. Tons more North Koreans would go to South Korea that went to West Germany and South Korea would have to spend way more of its budget on North Korea than West Germany did with East Germany. It would be horrible. Plus there is China. China would also be damaged.
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lowtherlore
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Yes. South Korean politicians are preparing legislation for reunification tax. But no matter how much they raise, it would be a far cry from the actual costs.
If it’s to happen, it will be a step-by-step process over a long period, tiered in progressive stages.
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lowtherlore
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Right. A la Hong Kong SAR and mainland China.
Huge difference between Hong Kong and N. Korea. Hong Kong had a fabulous economy and was well developed, with educated healthy people. Same can't be said for N. Korea unfortunately. Look at how hard reunification was for Germany, and well to be quite frank the East Germans lived in a paradise compared to what the N. Koreans experience.
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lowtherlore
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I was only agreeing with gmyers in that if it happens the border should remain closed. I agree N Korea is no Hong Kong, or even mainland China. And for N Korea comparison should be made with mainland China not with Hong Kong, even though greater China has the upper hand in Hong Kong politics. Hong Kong residents can freely travel to mainland, whereas mainland Chinese can't to Hong Kong SAR.
ETA: If it happens it would be a long process in progressive phases. It's true N Korea is starved and impoverished beyond imagination, but it's not true they are uneducated. S Korea and N Korea traditionally share the same culture and values. S Korea itself was one of the poorest countries in the world until 1960s, poorer than Philippines and the Southeast Asian countries. Given right programs, support and motivation, I believe N Korea could be developed faster than many would expect.
ETA: If it happens it would be a long process in progressive phases. It's true N Korea is starved and impoverished beyond imagination, but it's not true they are uneducated. S Korea and N Korea traditionally share the same culture and values. S Korea itself was one of the poorest countries in the world until 1960s, poorer than Philippines and the Southeast Asian countries. Given right programs, support and motivation, I believe N Korea could be developed faster than many would expect.
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The only reason I brought it up was that I wondered if the implications of a single Korean delegation (aka, the countries unified) would be so onerous on South Korea I'd question the ability to pull the Olympics off. Vancouver's Olympic bill, all expenses included, came to just over 9 billion dollars (summing up the numbers presented). I read in Barbara Demick's book, Nothing to Envy that the estimated cost of reunification would be half a trillion dollars.
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lowtherlore
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Ah, I get it now. South and North Korea don't have to go though a (political) renunification process to send a single unified Korean delegation. They've done it before (IIRC it happened at one of the Asian Olympiad games, with an agreed emblem and flag and all). When I mentioned earlier that the South Korean officials are contemplating a unified delegation, it's in that limited context for a specific event. I mean, political reunification is not a precondition for a unified athletic delegation.
The Koreans have joined to make one Olympic team before. Germany did too, before reunification. I had a vague memory of hearing that, and I just looked it up: East and West Germany competed as one team in 1956, 1960, and 1964, winter and summer Games. And during that time, the Berlin Wall went up. So there doesn't have to be any political unity for there to be a unified team.
The points made here about North/South Korea vs. East/West Germany are certainly apt. East Germany was not as internationally isolated as North Korea, and I don't recall any evidence of hunger, let alone the starvation that North Koreans seem to have endured for many years. And the people's lives in North Korea are regulated in a way that makes East Germany look like Monaco. It's a situation made up of equal parts of tragedy and irony, considering how technologically and economically advanced South Korea has become in the years after the Korean War.
The points made here about North/South Korea vs. East/West Germany are certainly apt. East Germany was not as internationally isolated as North Korea, and I don't recall any evidence of hunger, let alone the starvation that North Koreans seem to have endured for many years. And the people's lives in North Korea are regulated in a way that makes East Germany look like Monaco. It's a situation made up of equal parts of tragedy and irony, considering how technologically and economically advanced South Korea has become in the years after the Korean War.
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ITA. South Korea can not afford to prepare for the Olympics and reunification at the same time. Reunification alone will almost bankrupt South Korea. If the North ever manages get rid of its ruling dictators and reform, they're better off developing on their own via trade with South Korea until they reach a certain level of development. Only then should they even think about reunification. Given the state the North is in, instant reunification would be ruinous.
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Thanks for the response. I recalled the Unified Team from 1992, but don't understand the rules the IOC have here.
The situation surrounding N & S Korea is hairy. The best thing that can happen for both Koreas is that the new NK leader drops their ridiculous nuke game, changes the nation's course into more a China-styled transition by opening up the country's door and taking a market based approach.
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I respect what has been said about N and S Korea reuniting, but my first simplified question in mind when reading was, so if these people suffer more than what east germans did, should they keep suffering even further for many years while S Korea is getting richer and richer just because otherwise S Korea might get poorer or bankrupted? West Germany had the same arguments. And did east germans were living so much better during the whole period of the separation, from the beginning? I really dont know thats why I m asking.
Can someone post the presentation of Yuna about Olys?
I really wanna see it.
Can someone post the presentation of Yuna about Olys?
I really wanna see it.
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I respect what has been said about N and S Korea reuniting, but my first simplified question in mind when reading was, so if these people suffer more than what east germans did, should they keep suffering even further for many years while S Korea is getting richer and richer just because otherwise S Korea might get poorer or bankrupted? West Germany had the same arguments. And did east germans were living so much better during the whole period of the separation, from the beginning? I really dont know thats why I m asking.
Can someone post the presentation of Yuna about Olys?
seniorita, here's yuna's presentation..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpNr_7yq-hs&feature=player_embedded
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A bankrupted country cannot help any of its citizens, North or South, East or West.
If one man is drowning and someone who cannot certainly save him (e.g. a non-lifeguard) tries to rescue him, they can both end up drowning in the process. It's not S. Korea/ns just wanting to get "richer and richer".
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seniorita, here's yuna's presentation..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpNr_7yq-hs&feature=player_embedded
I am not seniorita but thank you for posting the link. Yuna spoke so eloquently and from the heart, she did a fabulous job.
Are you asking whether the East Germans had a better way of life during their separation than the North Koreans have had up to now? If so, the answer is undoubtedly yes. East Germany was part of one of the foremost industrial and scientific powers in the world--it was the Soviet sector of partitioned Germany. It was a country with plentiful natural resources and was urbanized. Some of the most important cities in Europe, including Dresden and Leipzig, I believe, are located in that part of Germany. Though certainly there had been destruction during the war (including the famous firebombing of Dresden), East Germany began its life at a higher level than either North or South Korea at the time of their partition. Once the postwar period began, West Germany advanced at a faster rate and also benefited from aid given by western powers, including the U.S. (The Allies had learned their lesson after the vengeful way they treated Germany following World War I, one of the main factors in the rise of Hitler and the start of World War II.) There was food aid and industrial aid--and, of course, the free enterprise system. But East Germany still had a lot of both human and material resources at its disposal. According to what I've read, though the Soviet Union ended capitalism, it didn't interfere with German scientific and engineering expertise.
According to what I've read, so much of the Korean infrastructure was destroyed during the Korean War and World War II. Additionally, from what I gather, Kim Il Sung and his heirs have tended to "supervise" (a euphemism) all aspects of life to a degree that did not happen in Germany. And because so much of North Korea's resources has been devoted to militarization, even food is not generally available for the rest of society--it goes to the soldiers first. Once the war was over in the Germanies, I think there was no problem with food availablility.
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