[forinti]

The DDR had about half the income per capita as West Germany. South Korea is currently at about 24x the per capita income of the north.

It would be a huge challenge to unify those two economies and it would surely take decades. South Korea developed itself from the 1960s onwards, so I would guess that unification would take that kind of time frame (50-60 years - if they could pull off another such miracle).

[dougmwne]

Ok the other hand, it would give the south a ready source of young labor, which they absolutely will need going forward. Managed properly, it could be a huge boon.