S.Koreans 'Fear Unification'

South Koreans are happy with the status quo and fear the instability of unification with the North, American conservatives claim. According to a report titled "An American Strategy For Asia" out Monday, the conservative American Enterprise Institute says, "From an American perspective, many South Koreans seem to harbor unrealistic hopes of achieving inter-Korean comity in the near term, yet remain reluctant to take any steps toward unification for fear of triggering instability and creating a huge financial burden." The report says Korean society “is changing rapidly, and the rising generation remembers America more as the backer of repressive anti-Communist military governments than as the nation’s ally and defender during the Korean War." The report echoes earlier remarks by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Bush administration, who said South Korea's remarkable economic success has paradoxically made its people comfortable with the status quo. In an article in the November/December 2008 issue of the National Interest, a periodical published by the Nixon Institute, he said although South Koreans prefer national unification in the abstract, they fear the economic difficulties and potential costs of absorbing North Koreans. As a result, South Koreans are apathetic about North Korea and the South Korean government, regardless of its political propensity, has tried to avoid tension with North Korea, or even given "protection money" to the North, Kelly said. (englishnews@chosun.com)

url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200901/200901140003.html

PhD Seals N.Korean Woman's Triumph Over Hardship

A woman who escaped from North Korea 12 years ago has become the first female North Korean defector to receive a PhD degree from a South Korean university. Lee Ae-ran (45) now has a doctorate in Nutritional Science and Food Management from Ewha Womans University. "North Korean propagandas say South Korea is run under cold bloody principles of free market, but thanks to the warmth of South Korean people, I was able to settle down here and finish my doctorate degree," said Lee on Thursday. After graduating from the Sinuiju University in North Korea, Lee worked at a government science and technology committee and married a medical doctor. However, after a relative who was separated from the family during the Korean War and migrated to the United States published a memoir saying Lee's father was involved in an anti-Kim Il-sung group right after Korea’s independence from Japan, Lee said she fell victim to a purge. She fled the country with her four-month-old son in 1997, leaving her husband behind, and arrived in South Korea in October that year. Lee pursued her doctorate degree on a full scholarship from the university while working as a saleswoman for Samsung Life Insurance. "As a nutritional scientist from North Korea, I would like to make contribution to devising food policy for North Korea after unification," said Lee.

url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200901/200901130002.html