For decades, South Korea’s national story has included the goal of eventual unification with North Korea, but survey data has increasingly shown that the public is less committed to this outcome, even before Kim Jong Un renounced it.

The obvious question is: why?

In my recent research article in Asian Survey with Lydia Crisp, we examined the extent to which South Koreans factor in economic costs into their views on unification. 

Estimating the costs of unification remains difficult, with estimates ranging as high as US$5 trillion or higher. But one point is