Discovering Joy: Ten Years in North Korea

by Joy Yoon

One day I asked one of our North Korean counterparts, “Would it be possible for North and South Korea to open their borders and co-exist as separate yet friendly nations?” To my surprise, his reply was, “That is exactly what we are proposing! Our unification policy calls for separate yet equally respected countries. We are willing to allow two governments to exist. Since it is difficult for our two countries to agree upon the terms to be unified into a single nation, we are willing to co-exist in a friendly manner as two separate countries.” “Then, why isn’t unification possible? That sounds like a good solution to me,” I responded. “South Korea will not accept these terms,” he replied. It’s obvious that the issue of unification on the Korean Peninsula does not have a simple solution. North Korea is traumatized by the Korean War and South Korea by North Korea’s militarism and human rights abuses. Neither country trusts the other.