Germany's in the 1990's. There are
also cultural factors: North Korean workers are used to working under
Communism, will they accept working under a capitalist elite?

That being said, a thought experiment with a Unified Korea is rather
interesting. North Korean labor would perhaps be cheaper; South Korean
companies could outsource manufacturing to the North instead of to China and
still remain globally competitive. The North has vast mineral resources which
could be exploited. A land route to China would increase Korean-Chinese trade
immensely. So generally it would look very good economically.

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tobyhinloopen
This is just a PR show... the war isn’t over until the NK population is free

~~~
lucb1e
That's a... very American statement. USA has a history of forcing their view
of freedom on other nations, whether they want to or not.

~~~
eggnet
By which country's standards is North Korea free?

Edit:them fear too much freedom among the survivors.
People hunted Nazis for generations. Wouldn't the North Korean decision-makers
fear being hunted?

Meanwhile, China has been invaded more than once from the Korean peninsula.
How willing will they be to lose a buffer between themselves and U.S. military
bases?

~~~
mc32
The only significant thing to change was American policy. The admin put great
on China to end smuggling goods across the border and ending the hijinks in
the high seas, basically putting an end to doing an end around sanctions as
well as the bluster.

The South Koreans indeed mention that the US played a major role in having
this happen.

It would be cosmically ironic if peace is achieved in this instance given the
prev admin winning the peace Nobel while achieving no peace at all.

~~~
21
Trump & Kim Jung Un have the