Template for reunification

By Mark Peterson

From time to time I'm asked to make a presentation. At times the inviting group chooses a topic; sometimes they allow me to choose. Recently I was asked to give a presentation via Zoom ― given the pandemic, Zoom has become more useful than ever. But this time the experience gave me pause, and gave me a surprise. The inviters asked me to speak about reunification ― that gave me pause because I hear talks about unification and it always seems like a waste of time to me, because we cannot really know the future! And it surprised me because the presentation was to be made to a scattered group of overseas Koreans, we like to say "gyopo," all across North and South America.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my audience across the United States, and groups in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I marveled at our modern age of technology where we as a group can speak to each other all across the Americas, and across the world!

And I was pleased with what I came up with regarding unification. Whereas I have felt frustration and futility when hearing people talk about unification on the Korean Peninsula, generally, as I started to prepare my presentation, I was pleased to come up with some new ideas, that were all mine, that I thought were useful in thinking about the future of Korea and the eventual and inevitable unification.

I used the YouTube presentations that I developed in the last year in thinking about what was unique about Korean history and the 12-point list that I've been writing about and "YouTubing" about in recent months. But I turned the idea on its ear ― whereas I've been thinking about these unique items from Korean history, now, I applied them all to a possible scenario for unification. And it worked. I think.

I've written about the "12 pillars of Korean culture" in this column over the last year. I've looked at the past, the history of Korea, but for this exercise I've used the same "12 pillars" of Korean culture as a structure for eventual reunification. Each of these is a cultural quality either unique to Korea, or strongly pronounced in Korea. Let's look at them here, not only as historical values, but as indicators of how Korea can successfully use its cultural heritage for unification.

1. Long dynasties. Because Korea has the world's longest dynasties, 500 years, 1,000 years, this 70-year division will, eventually, be a mere blip on the radar screen.
2. Peaceful transitions between dynasties. Since this is a Korean thing, let's hope it works out that way for reunification. However, there have been exceptions ― let's hope the dominant peaceful transition applies.
3. Few invasions. My argument here is the opposite way from how most Koreans view their history, and certainly the Korean War saw lots of outside forces. But if Korea can settle its reunification without outside powers, it will have a better chance of a peaceful process.
4. Never invaded another country. Here again, unification should be a Korean issue, not an international issue. China needs to stay out of the matter.
5. The longest border. That between Korea (North Korea) and China ― the Amnok (Yalu) River ― is the longest-held border in world history. It should remain so. Talk of China seizing land south of the Amnok is unthinkable.
6. Graves not robbed ― Korea has a great tradition of honoring the graves of former kings ― this raises the question of whether Kim Il-sung's grave should be honored?
7. Seonbi not samurai culture. Indeed, the seonbi culture is the culture of the scholar, not the warrior ― this idea should dominate in a unified Korea.
8. Civilian control of the court. Korea has only temporarily had military leaders ― in the 12th century and for a portion of the 20th century. There is no need for military control of the government in a unified Korea.
9. Slavery, a symbol of stability. The North has quite a different narrative on the slave-holding history of Korea. South Korea mostly ignores the slave tradition. The unified Korea will probably have a more balanced view of the past.
10. Few surname variations. And the dominant surname groups represent royalty of the past. North Korea has the same spread of surnames as the South ― a point of unification already.
11. No religious wars ― Unless you call Communism a religion, and it certainly occupies the same space, that of a "belief system," we can hope that the unification process will not be a "holy war" ― Korean Buddhists and Confucians and Christians don't fight with each other (well, not much). So, can we hope for a unification without ideology-based bloodshed?
12. Korea is quick to recover from turmoil. This final concept has the best application to reunification. In the way that Korea has been an economic miracle after the Japanese predations and the ravages of the Korean War, we can see a rapid healing of the North-South divide.

Too optimistic? Maybe not. The "12 pillars of history" says it can happen!

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.