17 May 2007 not as bad as 15 June 2000
by Richardson ~ May 18th, 2007. Filed under: Economics, Engagement, Reunification. 
While there is less gushing about hope for reunification than after the June 2000 summit between Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung – which was purchased for the price of at least $500 million – there is still a good bit over the newly opened railway link, which reportedly has only cost South Korea $80 million. Even though it’s more of a purchase than anything else, it’s still historically significant:
Trains from North and South Korea crossed the Demilitarized Zone on Thursday for the first time in more than 50 years. The train from South Korea carried 150 passengers from both sides including South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung and Senior North Korean Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho-ung.
But some masochists in the ROK government haven’t had enough abuse yet:
If North Korea needs a modern railroad network, Seoul will gladly pay for it, Seoul’s chief unification policymaker said yesterday, because it is an investment in the future.
“No matter how much it will cost, it is an investment for our economy,” Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said yesterday in an interview with SBS Radio. “The research is ongoing to estimate the cost, so it is hard to make the number public.”
He said the international community should jointly make the investment or provide loan financing, because it will be difficult for the South alone to upgrade the North’s railroads. (emphasis added)
He must have really liked his ride on the choo-choo, though calling for the international community to join in the money burning frenzy leads me to believe that Lee is on crack as well as a masochist.
Update: That cost could be as much as $8 billion dollars!
May 18th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Technically speaking, he is right. If unification is something both sides expect to happen even sometime in a future far, far away, the more the North is in line with South Korea’s economy, the less painful unification will be.
Too bad history has already taught us, those without heads rectumally afixed, that pumping resources into the Kim-clan Demented Disney World is a losing proposition. The Soviet Union and China tried for decades to make a good show of it in North Korea and look how that turned out….
South Korea trying to build North Korea up to prepare for unification will end up bringing the two closer together economically. It just means the South will look a heck of lot more like the North.
And by throwing ignorant money against the winds of history, trying to fund and establish a viable, growing NK economy while ignoring the realities of the despotic, broken nature of a regime that will not reform, and going so far as to politically defend it against the US, Japan, and others when it uses brinkmanship or the others try to put pressure on the North to reform —- only makes it less and less likely those very wealthy nations will be around to help bail you out effectively when the inevitable collapse comes.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
As much as 8 billion? Well, without knowing how the Russians came up with their figures and the tweak that the Blue House gave it, let me propose that this is a gross low ball. Let’s assume that they will have to rebuild the rail beds, lay new track, put up new bridges, blast new tunnels, (unless they plan to follow 100 year old Japanese surveys) new switching equipment, repair yards, rolling stock, computer equipment, stations, access roads and the education and training of North Korean workers. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, the massive bribes to Kim and his crew and the inevitable delays, costs and missed opportunities that come with cutting deals with the north. The 15.06.2000 dog and pony show cost half a billion, this “as much as 8 billion” sounds like bullshit to me.
May 18th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
I wonder if Roh will have that rail system built by December?
May 19th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Will the DPRK be fully cooperative in the effort? I understand thge North’s yearning of reunification is strong, but somehow, I do not see them doing it on anybody elses’ terms other than their own.
Until the regime collapses (which looks like it it teetering on the edge of the clif, and has been there for uite some time), reunification will not take place anytime soon.
May 19th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Reichsbahn.