Since the peaceful reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, the term “preparation for reunification” has become a common part of South Korean discourse. For South Korea, which has long sought reunification with the North, the German example serves as a valuable role model. It triggers both a feeling of shame that it has not achieved reunification and the hope that Korea could also follow the German path to reunification.

As the political situation in East Germany 34 years after reunification shows, the process of integration is a long-term undertaking that cannot be achieved through economic integration alone. In other words, social and cultural integration is just as important as economic efforts.

Broadly speaking, the integration process in Germany can be divided into two phases: The first half was dominated by economic integration, while the second half had problems with social and cultural integration due to the incomplete anchoring of democracy. Immediately after reunification, unemployment affected more than nine million East Germans, which led to an existential crisis. The internal conflicts in reunified Germany, particularly in the former East, were overshadowed by the urgent need to resolve this economic crisis.

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Social and cultural conflicts

Since reunification took place under West German leadership and the GDR was regarded as an unjust state under the Stasi regime and was characterized by 40 years of dictatorship, it was difficult for East Germans to articulate their needs in the initial phase of reunification. As a result, internal social and cultural conflicts built up, and — as Ralf Dahrendorf predicted in 1990 — the transplanted democratic system showed signs of instability, shaken by internal and external pressure.

This is proven by the recent state elections in the East German federal states. The left is threatened with extinction and is being challenged both by the AfD and by the new left-wing party BSW (Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht), which has distanced itself from traditional left-wing politics. This change shows that, despite their origins, East Germans are changing into a different society.

At the same time, perspectives such as those of Professor Dirk Oschmann, who describes East Germany as a “West German Invention” (“Der Osten: Eine westdeutsche Erfindung”) and portrays the reunified Germany as a continuing East-West conflict.

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Terms “reunification” and “compatriots” abolished

Through its reunification, Germany not only offers South Korea the vision of a reunification of the Korean Peninsula, but also reflects the current reality of the division of the peninsula by its own past. At the plenary session of the Central Committee on December 30, 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated that inter-Korean relations were “no longer a relationship between compatriots,” but “a hostile relationship between two states.” In addition, at the Supreme People's Assembly on January 15, 2024, he stated that the terms “reunification” and “compatriots” should be completely abolished.

This change in North Korea's stance reflects East Germany's reaction in the past. When West German Chancellor Willy Brandt waived West Germany's claim to sole representation on October 28, 1969 and effectively recognized East Germany as a state, but wanted to preserve “national unity” for future reunification, the GDR reacted immediately. It claimed that there were two separate nations and peoples (West Germany as a capitalist state, East Germany as a socialist state).

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Parallels with the national anthem

Similar to how the GDR forbade singing the first verse of the national anthem because it said “Germany, united fatherland,” North Korea deleted the lyrics of its anthem, which once referred to the entire Korean peninsula, and even removed South Korea from its weather maps.

North Korea's future action with the rejection of the concept of a “single nation” can be derived in a similar way from the case of the GDR. Similar to how the GDR has reinterpreted historical figures such as Frederick the Great and Martin Luther, North Korea is likely to take cultural initiatives to strengthen the idea of a “socialist nation.”

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Contact and dialogue aborted

However, such attempts would essentially be an internal admission that unification based on the North Korean system is unachievable. Efforts to artificially change the course of history are unlikely to be successful. After North Korea committed itself to the “two-state theory,” it abolished the terms “unification” and “compatriots” internally, dissolved the divisions dealing with South Korea, and broke off contact and dialogue, which worsened inter-Korean relations. Similarly, in 1984, the GDR renamed the Central Committee Western Division of its Central Committee to the Central Committee Department of International Politics and Economics and hid it.

On August 15 this year, the South Korean government announced its unification doctrine, outlining a clear vision for reunification based on the values of freedom. Unlike in the past, however, North Korea has not responded this time. Even though there is still a breakthrough in the dialogue between the two Koreas, one thing is certain: All Koreans, in both North and South, are longing for the day when, as Willy Brandt once said, what belongs together grows together. In this sense, I also hope that Germany, which serves as a model for Korea's united future, will achieve full integration.

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Dr. Bongki Lee is a Research Fellow of the Korea Institute for National Unification. Before that, he was director of the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin.

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