Future relations with North Korea

“…among South Koreans it’s a very difficult thing for them to fathom because they are a very successful society today. The notion of being saddled with the economic and social burden of trying to integrate a population that has been isolated from the world for the past 60 years is something they don’t want to contemplate. Having said that, historically, changes come to the Korean Peninsula in dramatic fashion. It has never come gradually. Even if the South Koreans don’t want it, unification could fall into their lap.”

- Victor Cha, Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University and formerly Director of Asian Affairs at the White House’s National Security Council.

From this month’s America Abroad
After Kim Jong-Il: America and the Two Koreas