The Korean peninsula is divided into North and South. There's a cease-fire, so that means that the two Koreas are still at war. The reality is that the vast majority of South Koreans are not worried about the North suddenly throwing an offensive or invading, but that 38th parallel line looms over South Koreans of all ages.
By that, I mean that all Koreans do have North Korea somewhere in the back of their minds. But with each individual's busy lives, the "other Korea" is easily forgotten most of the time. Then when North Korea makes headlines for whatever move they have made or are going to make supposedly, North Korea is not difficult to recall. I mean, when I say the "other Korea" is easily forgotten by South Koreans, I'm not saying they have some case of amnesia, rather, it's just, they just move along with their lives. Which is so doable since this cease-fire has been going on for well-over 50 years.
It is in the interests of the South Koreans, however, to reunite with the North as one country. It's funny, how can two countries that are right next to each other, oh and also happen to share the exact same language and culture, be considered two separate countries? The only real difference is that the North is Communist while the South is a Republic. I mean think about it, there are other countries that share the same language, like the United States with Britain, Canada, Australia and possibly some other country/ies (of course, with slight differences with the dialects). But do they all share the same culture? Hence, it should make sense to the whole world that these specific, above-mentioned countries should be separate countries. I don't know, I'm not some expert on all the countries in the world, so maybe there are countries who are in the same case as the two Koreas, but I am Korean, hence I know Korea's situation which is why I'm focusing on Korea.
Particularly, what the Korean churches (that are Biblically-sound and Christ-centered) have in their hearts is this: to love each other in the South first before they can even think about loving the people of the North once they unite. It's a wonderful consideration, isn't it? Regardless of what you believe, you have to admit - how can you handle loving and caring for the millions of Koreans in the North when you can't even love your own neighbor? So a Korean religious documentary titled "Are you Ready?" (the title is in English, too) came out not too long ago, and although it is a religious documentary, it makes that same point which is important and relevant to all South Koreans - are you ready for the rest of the Koreans to come down and live among you?
As a biased, opinionated, anti-Communist Korean-American, this is my personal thought for why the two Koreas should unite: To abolish the wicked order and government in North Korea. You know, right this moment I really thought about it - what all the rest of us South Koreans expect with uniting with North Korea is that we all turn into one whole peninsula of a Republic. But... what if the North Koreans who dare to consider or meditate on uniting (it's imaginable that this is illegal in the North) are expecting that the rest of Korea turn Communist with them? I mean, I guess, it's more likely that if they do even think about uniting with the South, that would be like treason in itself, so might as well go with turning all Republic. Woah. I never really thought about this, guys. I've always assumed that when the two Koreas unite, it would all be a Republic, no more Communism. And I have confidence that when we do unite, we won't all go Communist. But it's kind of a scary thought that a North Korean could be assuming a Communist take over of the rest of Korea as much as I assume a "Republicanization" of the North. But then like I said, a North Korean thinking that unity would be a good potential alternative must hate Communism to think that, so maybe not. I just had a sad thought... Do North Koreans even know what the alternatives are, other than Communism?
I don't even want to put it as going all Communist or all Republic, one or the other. I'm stressing unity here. But it occurred to me while typing this up (like I said, I only touched based on the surface previously), Communism and Republicanism can't coexist. So this all leads up to the conclusion that unity is actually going to be much more difficult than I thought. This makes me really sad.
I know that this post has been an unorganized jumble of my ideas on the unity of the two Koreas, but I'm not going to revise it because I still want my ideas here to be displayed. I also know that this isn't my first time talking about something related to North Korea, but I would like more people to know the sad situation with South Korea regarding the "other Korea".
(863)
No comments:
Post a Comment