Only 2 days from now, the world will get to witness the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. Today, many look upon Germany as a great economic power. Germany is the world’s 4th largest economy after the United States, China, and Japan, and excels in many fields including the arts and sports. Though it has been 25 years, many Germans expressed that traces of the Berlin Wall are still ever present.
If one looks at Germany as a whole, the nation has gone through quite consistent and remarkable economic growth over the past 25 years. In the eastern area that was once East Germany, average wages for working class citizens has escalated 50 percent in only the first year after their reunification. The nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has grown almost double until now, and the economic disparity between the East and the West has decreased considerably.
Many experts and even German citizens however have expressed some criticism over the situation. Not necessarily regarding reunification itself, but the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Germany’s Private Institute for Research on Economics (Ifo Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung) announced that unemployment rate in the eastern half of the country is around 10.3 percent, which is still higher than that of the western area (6 percent). They also added that German citizens living in the eastern districts receive only 2 thirds of what western citizens receive.
Cultural differences are another obstacle for German citizens. For instance, in the east, one could still see traces of the old Communist regime, for women often go out to join the work force and there are still public day-care centers where people could leave their children until they finish work for the day.
Germany’s Berlin-Brandenburg Research Center for Social Science revealed through a survey that around 40 percent of German citizens from both the West and East have expressed that the overall situation in Germany has gotten worse after reunification. It was not that these people were opposed against the reunion of their country however, but many Germans are still striving to overcome the aftermath of the somewhat “rash” crumbling of the Berlin Wall.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) expressed that Korea on the other hand, may have nothing to learn from the reunification of Germany. Though many have made the comparison between the two countries, the situation in Korea is so much worse. Before we even start talking about the economic gap between the 2 Koreas (South Korea’s economy is around 19 times larger than that of North Korea), the 2 Germanys never had to fight a full-scale war with each other.
Surveys revealed that only 14 percent of South Korean citizens expressed that reunification is a very urgent and immediate issue, and most still regard North Korea as a rogue state and a political enemy that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and also all of East Asia. Even though Korea’s political leaders still promote reunification as the destined task of Koreans, many Korean citizens seem to have turned away from the dream.
Right now, Korea is about to host a period of joint military exercises with the U.S. in preparation for a North Korean invasion of the South.
