Huailue Zhang’s Question:

As you mentioned, if there could be a unification for North and South Korea and if there could be a closer economical tie among South Korea, China and Japan, there could be a short recession for the united Korea. 

However, as far as I am concerned, it seems to be difficult to have a EU-like economic relation among the three countries. To be specific, although the idea of establishing a free trade zone among the three countries was proposed in China in early 2000, the neogiation is still on going and somehow frequently interrupted by the polical tension and conflicts. To be honest, although I could not think about any evidence at this moment, I feel the issues about North Korea are right at the center of those tension and conflicts.

Thus, my first question is that do you feel it could be possible for my generation to see a more economical mutual-dependent East Asia. If so, in what kind of manner and to which extend, it would benefit the unification for North and South Korea and the united Korea.

My Answer:

Actually the economic unification that I talked to is an unification without North Korea. As we learned from the past, for economic unification between countries, member countries' living standard should be similar. Otherwise the unification is not sustainable. 

As far as I know, even with political tensions between China, Japan, and South Korea, lot of talks for economic unification is going on at government level.