The Unification Research and Strategy in Korea and Germany: Affinity and Specificity
2007; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1941-2886
Autores Tópico(s)Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies
ResumoThe Unification Research and Strategy in Korea and Germany: Affinity and Specificity Edited by Yean-Cheon Oh, Dalgon Lee, Bernhard Seliger and Sung-Jo Park; Seoul 2006- ISBN 89-89793-37-8 (the book can be ordered by Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea Office: info@hss.or.kr).AbstractWe will publish a short summary of all books we receive and a thorough review of selected books in North Korean Review (NKR). If you would like to have a summary or a review of a North Korean book published in NKR, please send a complimentary copy of the book to me. This section contains a review of the following two books: The Unification Research and Strategy in Korea and Germany: Affinity and Specificity and The North Korean Economy.As a result of its nuclear program and its twin missile and nuclear tests in 2006, North Korea has become more and more isolated. At the same time, the communist regime is attempting to catch up with economic reality by legalizing certain market activities. With this changing environment in mind, The Unification Research and Strategy in Korea and Germany: Affinity and Specificity offers a very interesting look at unification issues by comparing Germany and Korea. While Germany has been reunified by the collapse of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Korean peninsula remains divided. Korea is in a position to profit from Germany's unification experiences. This book offers an excellent anthology of papers comparing the unification process in Germany and Korea. Because reunification is not only an economic problem, attention is also given to the cultural, historical, and political trajectories of Germany and Korea.The book is divided into three main sections and includes 14 research papers. While the first section deals with methods in comparative research, sections two and three investigate the aspects of unification strategy in Korea and the lessons from German unification for Korea. In the first section, for example, a paper by Oh and Collier analyzes the economic, cultural and scientific cooperation between divided nations with focus on Germany. As Oh and Collier point out, the first lesson of German division was that a mere denial of the legitimacy of that division was counterproductive in overcoming its worst consequences. They conclude that a little cooperation can go a long way to maintain national and family ties. Additionally they emphasize the costs of caring for the welfare of those living under the repressive state.Section two begins with B. Seliger's sophisticated essay on the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in North Korea, followed by an analysis by Y. …
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