“Look at the economic powerhouse that Germany has become since reunification.”
You do make a valid point. However, East Germany was not in nearly as bad a shape as North Korea was. Not only economically but financially and culturally. The people in the North have been repressed - emotionally, culturally and spiritually. The North’s infrastructure of roads, ports and railroads lags way behind that of the South.
I sometimes wonder if there’s enough money in the world to re-integrate the North with the South. Against the backdrop of trying to improve the North’s overall standing, the people of the North will have to come to grips with what their former govt has done to them. There will be some really ugly reprisals by the ordinary people against the former leaders, former members of the military, formers members of the internal security services, etc.
Not only that - but as much as the people of the South claim to want reunification, I really wonder, when pressed, how badly they’d want it given the problems with reunification.
Koreans want unification, period. They’re an ancient culture suffering division for a mere few decades.
Before Japan was defeated at the end of WWII, the Japanese had built much infrastructure in Asian lands they occupied, where none was before. They built roads, ports, schools, railroads and factories in Korea (which was a territory of Japan for half a century) as well as in Taiwan, China and other countries. After WWII those countries benefitted by the upgrade to a modern civilization - except for North Korea, where the Russians stripped it bare, taking apart infrastructure and shipping it back to Russia. Put them right back into 3rd-world status. Taiwan benefitted and acknowledges the Japanese contribution to their society. I doubt North Korea has any compliments to give to Russia.