CSS Evening Talk: The Future of the Two Koreas

Since 1953, Swiss military personnel, as part of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission tasked with monitoring the cease-fire agreement, have been stationed at the border between North and South Korea. At an Evening Talk, which took place on the 26th of February 2015, Prof. Eun-Jeung Lee from the “Freie Universität Berlin” and Nina Belz from the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” discussed potential approaches how this standoff between the two Koreas could be solved in favour of a reunification.

The big uncertainty in this regard was and remains the stability of the current regime in North Korea. It was noted that while it would be desirable to overcome the threat emanating from the regime in the North through reunification, this process itself could prove to be a risky endevaour. Additionally, important neighbors, such as China and Japan, show only limited interest in a reunified Korea. Therefore, it seems unlikely that the current situation, which shapes the region since 1953, is about to change anytime soon.