Rev Moon is a great thinker on inter-Korean Reunification

Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Pyongyang Declaration signifies one God-centered world; that is, unification under a single system. He was a great reunification thinker, an audacious practitioner and a patriotic person.

Rev Moon is a great thinker on inter-Korean Reunification

True peace for mankind is neither right nor sinful. The reason is that neither the right nor the left has a fundamental motive to liberate selfishness. When we focus on ourselves and our own interests, there is a conflict of interest that never goes away, but if there is no unification there is no peace.

Rev Moon is a sincere unification activist who is full of love for humanity

As much as South Koreans love South Korea, there must be some South Korean who loves North Korea more. Also, as long as North Koreans love North Korea, someone who loves South Korea should emerge. Even though we live in South Korea, the path will open only if we have a heart to live together with those who live in North Korea and to become one.

The two systems must harmonize

However, the reality of South Korea and North Korea is that the two worlds have completely different personalities: Therefore, the most important task is to make efforts to match the characteristics of the two systems. The people of South Korea have the freedom to create a world centered on God, but the North Korean people are deprived of their freedom even if they wanted to live in God’s world for just one day. But is there any history of the peaceful merging of different systems built on the basis of different ideologies and values?

National economic integration into a single country

Countries have successfully integrated partially self-governing states. To name a few, the United States, the Swiss Confederation and the Federal Republic of Germany. There is a history of unification and integration of countries or regions with the same capitalist market economy. However, there is no history of unification between a capitalist country and a socialist country; that is, a market economy state and a planned economy state, like South Korea and North Korea. The South Korean government’s unification plan ultimately aims for a unified state under a single system, but North Korea’s unification plan aims for two federal systems. The South Korean plan calls for three stages — an Exchange and Cooperation Stage, a Union Stage and a Unification Stage.

We need ask, “What type of country is North Korea? It is a socialist country. The economic system is planned production and distribution, and the politics is party- centered management based on collectivism (totalitarianism). Production is controlled by a planned economic system. Consumption relies on a farmers’ market system.

What is North Korea’s reputation? How does the world look upon North Korea? It is a feudal hereditary dynasty. A state in which a single individual rules and that supreme leader is hereditary, through the Kim family. It is a garrison state; the government mobilizes citizens as if they were soldiers under state control. It fits the categories “gangster country” “secluded country” and “closed country.” It appears to be a socialist, democratic republic in terms of its constitution, but it’s actual government acts like a monarchy. The Marxist theory of stages of historical development (based on production methods and productive forces in relation to production) assert that societies move from a slave-owner society to a feudal society to a capitalist society and reach their peak as a communist society.

Marxian general theory when defining the character of the state: The character of the (economic) foundation determines the character of the superstructure (various institutions such as laws and institutional systems, culture, etc.). If the character of the economic foundation is capitalism, the superstructure also has the characteristics of capitalism (free democracy and free culture). If the nature of the economic foundation is socialism, it also has the characteristics of socialism (a collectivist system and collectivist culture).

In this sense, the United States, Japan and South Korea have been classified as capitalist countries while the Soviet Union (Russia) China and North Korea have been classified as socialist countries. However, from the 1980s, a completely different form of socialist state appeared. Social-democratic countries emerged from capitalist countries. Their key characteristic was that they implemented socialist economic policies under a capitalist system, with their state intervening directly in distribution. Among these states were those in Northern Europe and Greece.

Meanwhile, market economies were developing in China, Vietnam and Cuba, which are all socialist countries. Under the socialist systems, they introduced capitalist economic principles. In other words, capitalist socialism emerged. On the other hand, within the socialist country of North Korea, tyranny was born. Their socialist system operates like a feudal dynasty; that is, it built a feudal dynasty, the only one on earth.

South Korea: Economic life

Production and distribution activities (wholesale and retail market transactions, agricultural and fisheries and industrial product transactions, price research, overseas market research, human resources market research) all take place within the individual businesses.

Companies engage in financial transactions (stock trading, bank loans, various insurance subscriptions, etc.) They may deal in real estate transactions for housing, land, commercial buildings, etc. South Korean consumers have a wide variety of products to choose from. Consumption dictates production. South Korean consumers are constantly encouraged to consume as targets of the advertising industry.

North Korea: Economic life

Working life is predominantly concentrated on production activities. The reason is that the means of production are completely owned by the state cooperatively. There is an absence of a private trading market (except the farmers’ market), due to the absence of a stock market, financial market and real estate market.

Government and business bureaucrats start each day by checking the annual, quarterly and monthly production plan (quotas). Production activities go according to production orders, unrelated to consumption. Consumer life: the government encourages savings and reducing consumption. North Korea is the only country in the world without advertisements targeting consumers.

Aspects of political life (within a political organization)

In South Korea you are free to take part in political activities or not. Political organizations have few members. The number of political party members is less than two million for both men and women. South Koreans enjoy freedom of speech, publication, assembly, demonstration and association, which are all signs of political freedom, which is practically guaranteed. In North Korea, all residents aged seven and over are obligated to join a political organization and are not allow to refuse. At age fourteen, they would be part of a youth organization. Those over twenty-five are required to be members of the Labor Party. Among other labor organizations are the Women’s Union and the Agricultural Workers Union.

In North Korea, all citizens join a political organization and live within a political organization. Social activities and religious activities, etc. are forbidden. These are considered sectarian acts; offenders are strictly punished. In other words, freedom of the Press, assembly and association are fundamentally blocked, though freedom is clearly stated in the constitution. It is constitutionally legal but illegal in terms of organizational norms.