Can't you see where I'm arguing from? If anything, I wouldn't be a communist, but a traditionally minded American with conservative values that's trying to look at things from a Korean point of view?
What I meant in the two articles by the natural order of things are:
#1. It's not in the natural order to have a divided Korean peninsula or rival Korean states.Korea has pretty much had the same borders with the same homogenous group of people since 664 AD.. even without having to resort to the most ridiculous exercise of revisionist/nationalist history that has become the Balhae debate. So, imagine a country that has had one ethnic group... No minorities whatsoever for 1300 years... Consistently... Where's your sense of other in society? I mean if you look at American History, the identity of what it means to be American has gone from being defined by a particular ethnic group and religious denomination to a set of values and principles (and i'd like to language tradition as well -- "language")... But, in Korea, it has been the same for 1300 years, either you're Korean ("we") or an outsider (even "Chinese" would count here). If you go back far enough into Korean history, you'd actually see that Ming, yes, Ming Chinese emissaries in Korea were not allowed to even travel outside certain roads without Korean "interlopers" in not what is North Korea, but what was Joseon (a unified Korea)... So, as you can see, take these xenophobic tendencies that have lasted for more than a millenia and add that with colonialism and an unconcluded civil war and you are left with the bizarre state that is North Korea today that builds dams to kill other Koreans (And of course, a South Korea in denial).
#2. The natural order of things has also shown that Northeast Societies, or more precisely, Confucian societies have a favorable advantage when trying to obtain sustained economic growth(you can check the CBO's report on The Role Foreign Aid has Played in the Economic Development of South Korea and the Philipines (1997), for the exact link, i believe it's somewhere on my blogfor that)). But anyways, Korea being a Confucian society and the Philipines not. Thus, as in the 1950s it was the prevalent view or the Washington Consensus that export oriented development or that sustained economic development in Northeast Asia was just not going to happen, when first Japan and then the four Asian Tigers (all Confucian societies by the way) showed sustained economic development... then it was argued that these Korea's economic development was a miracle... (since all these tigers minus Korea were small island states)... I argue that it is not... I view that Confucian societies also enjoy (though not nearly to the same extent that American or Anglo-Saxon societies do with their strong legal and political institutions combined with free market enterprise and strong innovation)... that is a natural tendency to get rich... So, in this view, if Korea was destined to be rich at some point or well off, would it not have been better for Korea to have been unified during a civil war regardless of who did the unifying... I believe either route would have led to the same thing eventually... a prosperous Korea with strong democratic institutions (though favoring somewhat socialist principles of wealth distribution that all Confucian societies, such as Japan, have also shown)...
Perhaps, this is clearer... I will re-write it better on the blog shortly...
-Han
Author of Breaking Down Borders : Korea
p.s. I'll also be podcasting the course i'm teaching and the first class will have a specific slide hinting at this... that have traditionally favored education East is that the Confucian societies that have value Hence, it's weird to have a peninsula that's divided. This has led to a very bizarre state that is North Korea. Everything about North Korea is weird.. I think there's going to have to be a part III...
Han
Author of Breaking Down Borders : Korea
If you are saying that it would be great if the Korean peninsula were united under a single government - well then, how could I disagree? Ethnic distinctions in South Korean society (like between Cholla Namdo and Gyeonggi) are so minor that from a Western perspective they are virtually non existent. Something like the difference between an Ohioan and a New Englander. Differences between North and South continue to exist, with the North relatively undeveloped and agricultural, completely the reverse of the pre-Korean War situation. Moreover, having lived in Korea for more than a decade, I can say with certainty that it is the sincere, heartfelt wish of EVERY South Korean that this were so. But, not every Korean would agree that the partition was worse than the imposition of Communist rule over the entire nation, in fact I think only a minority of South Koreans would agree with this notion. The notion that the interference of the US led to the division of Korea can’t be taken seriously unless you consider the imposition of Communist rule both natural and unavoidable.
I could (and would) argue with equal sincerity that the division of Korea was caused directly by the Chinese invasion of the peninsula after virtually the entire nation had been liberated from the Communists.
Moreover, if you argue that Confucian societies generally embody values that are compatible with successful, vibrant economies, I also have to agree. I would be a bit reluctant to attribute this solely to Confucianism, but instead to the entirety of the national mindset. But then, why did North Korea fail, and China and Mongolia stagnate until Deng in the case of China and the fall of the Soviet Union in the case of Mongolia? I’d argue strongly that the nature of Communism at its core is “against the natural order of things”. It abhors a free economy and elevates a central control of the means of production. It stifles creativity and enterprise. South Korean prosperity resulted in no small measure from their access to the US marketplace.
I’d argue that North Korea would already be dead and gone if it had not been propped up by all manner of “humanitarian” aid from the West, from Japan, and from South Korea itself. Now, there’s something I do see as against the natural order of things - propping up your enemy.
Also, I think there was a moment, when the Soviet Union fell, and Germany re-united, that South Korea recoiled from the social turmoil and costs that reunification would have brought, and the opportunity that might have existed slipped away. What set of circumstances might now arise wherein reunification might be possible is something that has not been revealed to me. I can scarcely imagine what it could be short of a terrible and all-encompassing collapse within North Korea.