If I Were BOTH Koreas

Even the most of skeptics could not have anticipated the inspiring outcomes of the 2nd Summit of the Koreas. The Summit Declaration, among other specific elements, committed to eventual full unification of the Korean Peninsula - ROK & DPRK.

We shall see the signs early. Prime Ministers will soon meet, defence chiefs will follow. Even the cheerleaders team to the Beijing Olympics will go by train through the North. Most important, however, is President Kim Jong II's personal confirmation to denuclearise the peninsula. It is in this realm that their ambition to work through a four-party talks to formally end the Cold War - with a permanent peace treaty - lifts the soul. Four-party? Yes: ROK, DPRK, US, PRC.

I saw these prospects in my incurable optimism for world peace when President Roh Moo-hyun pointedly asked President George Bush, at the last ASEAN Summit in Australia, to name a date for withdrawing American troops from South Korea. Mr Bush was jolted, but recovered fast to insist on considering such possibility ONLY after the North ends its nuclear programme. Peace, final peace, was in sight!

If I were the TWO Koreas, I will make things move quick, very quick. The North must end its nuclear programme, under the six-party talks, quick. The South will flood the North with new investments, under a special industrialisation programme. China and Japan will invest in both infrastructure and agriculture to upgrade both physical and human capital. The West (EU and US) will support export development. Russia and Canada will guarantee future energy needs of the peninsula. The AU will back strategic raw materials in a Special Africa-Korea Partnership. The UN will move in to secure a rapid & sustainable MDGs programme.

Voila!

Once the land is fully demilitarised, the huge annual costs of keeping 28,000 US troops and its DPRK opposites will be funneled into regeneration and renewal of the Unified Korea.

And by the way, America needs her troops back for homeland security!

If I were BOTH Koreas - leaders and citizens, alike - I will push and push, work and work, like hell; then pray and pray, like heaven; for....full peace & complete unification.

Timeline? Yes:
Peace Treaty - 12 Months.
Complete Unification (learning from the German experience) - 60 Months.

From this day, Pyongyang and Seoul must stay on da same page.