Kim knows that he can’t keep his people pacified forever. NK has allowed too many Western tourists in to keep the Western lifestyle a secret from the masses.
The best thing that can happen to Kim is normalized trade with SK, beginning with becoming SK’s cheap labor, and culminating with reunification.
Look at the economic powerhouse that Germany has become since reunification.
RE: NK has allowed too many Western tourists in to keep the Western lifestyle a secret from the masses.
Just curious, what is there to see in Kim’s North Korea?
“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.