Environmental Issues of a Unified Korea

Considering the present tension between the two Koreas, manifested in the Cheonan-Ham incident, it might sound a little too soon to talk about the issues of a unified Korea. However, as we have seen in the German Unification case, the unification of the Korean Peninsula may come unexpectedly. If it does, the cost will be high. It could be higher simply because it comes unexpectedly. Considering the shock which former East European communist countries’ environmental degradation delivered when they collapsed and opened to the world in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, it is reasonable for us to expect and prepare for possible environmental problems in North Korea. Also as we have seen in the former East German case, the unexpectedness of the unification of Korean Peninsula might force us to pay additional costs. Besides, because environmental investments always have to compete against economic, defense, and other societal needs, unless it is embedded as an integral part of the plan for a unified Korea, environmental protection policies and measures will have to suffer endless compromises