Pyongyang and Seoul: The Political and Business Capitals of a Unified Korea?

Opinion

Pyongyang and Seoul: The Political and Business Capitals of a Unified Korea?

Mark Barry October 5, 2012

NK News

The Korea Economic Institute’s recent interview with Professor B. R. Myers, author of The Cleanest Race, is a must-listen. One point he makes clear is that the coming “final victory” the North proclaims to its people is to “bully” (with occasional provocations) South Korea into a confederation in which the North politically subdues the South, yielding a unified Korean state dominated by the North’s elite. Myers says the North ultimately won’t succeed because it will eventually overreach, and the South, no matter who is president, will forcefully respond.

Myers’ depiction of this “final victory” points to an important dynamic in the self-conception of the North Korean state. The problem is that since Kim Il Sung’s demise, North Korea has been too busy trying to survive rather than focus on achieving its ultimate ambition. Regime survival – in some form – has been too pressing a matter. But this DPRK end goal of eventually subsuming the South, a justification for its sacrifices, is too important for regime cohesion to be jettisoned.

About the Author

Mark Barry

Dr. Mark P. Barry is an independent Asian affairs analyst who has followed U.S. - DPRK relations for the past 22 years. He visited North Korea twice and met the late President Kim Il Sung in 1994, and has appeared on CNN to discuss North Korea. From 2005-06, he helped found and direct the Asia Pacific Peace Institute in Washington, DC. He also assisted the convening of the first-ever meeting of legislators from China and Taiwan in Tokyo in June 1989, under the auspices of the International Security Council. Dr. Barry has spoken on U.S.-DPRK relations before the Korean Political Science Association, Korea Institute of National Unification, and the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, among others. He received his Ph.D. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and his M.A. in national security studies from Georgetown University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations and global management, and is also associate editor of the International Journal on World Peace quarterly.

View more articles by Mark Barry Got a news tip?Let us know!