DPRK Recognizes that "Reunification" is Impossible
But "recapture" would be as destructive and would result in overthrow of North Korean ruling regime.
Satellite photos appear to confirm that North Korea destroyed the Arch of Reunification after Kim Jong-un disavowed his regime’s desire for “reunification”. He maintained that the DPRK would attempt to “recapture” and “incorporate” the Republic of Korea into its territory in the event of war. In practice, that is what “reunification” has always meant.
The dream of “peaceful reunification” was always nothing more than a dream. As long as two states exist with political systems and societies so distinctly different and incompatible with each other, they could not just meld together into one state. Giving up on “reunification,” is just acknowledging reality.
Tomasz Wierzbowski argued last December that South Korea should give up on the idea of reunification.
A unified state would have a unified political system. Would it be one that holds regular elections for legislators who write laws as a body, or would it be a one-party state that imposes dictates from the politburo and the Dear Leader? Would it be one that has a vibrant protest culture, or would it be one that throws people into prison camps just for watching foreign DVDs—to say nothing of protest? (Related: North Korea urges mothers to snitch on their kids who watch South Korean media.)
North Korea’s repressive regime would have a terribly difficult time trying to govern South Korea. The 51.7 million South Koreans are used to having political and social freedom. They have a long history of opposing dictators. They organized mass protests against the Japanese colonizers. They venerate those who assassinated Japanese generals and governors as national heroes. As students, they threw firebombs at the police officers who fought against them on college campuses during Park Chung-hee’s and Chun Doo-hwan’s authoritarian regimes.
Humans tend to grasp for freedom when they can, when the environment allows for it. Even if their thirst for freedom is suppressed, it doesn’t die. Someday, somehow, the North Korean people may rise up and topple the regime suppressing their freedom independent of what happens in South Korea. That day would certainly come sooner if the Kim family mafia tried a ham-handed attempt to “reunify” (or “recapture” or “incorporate”) South Korea and created an army of 50 million insurgents.