By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Elena Kubitzki from Germany
Photos = Elena Kubitzki

A lot of the questions I was asked before moving to Korea were very similar: “Isn’t it dangerous?” “Aren’t you scared that North Korea will attack?” or, “What if a war starts?”

I'm sure I'm not the only non-Korean coming to Korea who had to face such questions in their home country. A mixture of lacking education, misinformation by the news, and an overall love for dramatics have created an image that is very different from the reality of actually living in Korea. People living in fear in the city of Seoul, people planning their life for the start of a new inter-Korean war, people worrying about an attack all day, every day: those will all be very hard to find in the lively and dynamic Korean capital, despite its relative closeness to the North Korean border.

While the worry about North Korea is much less present than an international audience might think, so is the active call for peaceful talks or even reunification. As a German, I know that even before our reunification in 1990, East and West Germany had talks, the people of both sides held demonstrations for peace, and even visits from West to East Germany were permitted. This allowed families and friends to stay in touch and the German people as a whole to stay as one united people, divided only by a border that was imposed on them.

I realize that the situation on the Korean Peninsula and its history is a different one. I was nonetheless ecstatic to find that finally, for the first time in 11 years, inter-Korean talks would be held. Many people, including myself, had been worried that the North Korean attitude lately was dangerous, especially after the election of U.S. President Trump who also seemed to want to promote strife rather than peace.

However, ever since the Winter Olympic Games earlier this year, a change seems to have made its way through the North Korean leadership. Why it happened and how long it will last might still be hard to tell at this point. However, it definitely is a development that the global audience would like to see.



While I currently study international peace and security for my master's here in Korea, and while the inter-Korean relationship has been a personal point of interest for me, there are still a lot of things I might not know and political implications that I am overlooking.

However, one thing that I felt ever since I first came to Korea in 2011, and also first visited the DMZ, is that there are still many people wanting to normalize relations with the North and even wishing for reunification.

For example, seeing all the letters for wishes of a peaceful reunification at one station of the DMZ really moved me. Whether it's people who want to visit their childhood hometown in the North, people who have heard stories from their parents and would like to see the place of their origin in person, or simply people who want to be able to freely travel the Korean Peninsula, they all have valid wishes.

If you walk into any history museum in Germany, you will find similar wishes articulated by the German people when they had been divided. I think it's natural to want to bring two pieces of the same thing together again. It's true that we don’t know yet if this will be successful. We also don’t know how exactly this “coming together” will look in the case of the two Koreas.

One thing, however, is sure. Normalized and peaceful relations on the peninsula would benefit all parties involved, and especially the average Korean who wishes for closure on a more-than-60-year-old wound and who might be able to finally get some peace of mind.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.