[fatbird]

Yes, and not just those symptoms, but a generation raised in a truly bizarre educational system, who believe that total corruption is the norm, and who are so economically backwards that they'll be largely unable to meaningfully participate in a re-united economy.

I suspect that, if reunification occurs, NK will be held apart as a special zone for a generation or two in order to educate a following generation for real reunification.

[lostlogin]

It's been done before. Germany hasn't had a smooth transition, and there are still problems, but it has been done.

[nandemo]

The gap between the Koreas is far bigger than the gap between West and East Germany ever was. The latter was arguably ahead of the better parts of Third World (say Brazil or Mexico) in terms of education, health care, infra-structure, industrialization, etc. Compare to North Korea, which still uses mainly manual and animal labour for agriculture, and can barely feed its people.