The Republic of Korea (ROK) will need to spend about $1 trillion or more to renovate the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) creaky infrastructure if the two were to reunite, a ROK study said, adding that the cost will go up further over time.
But the ROK's economy can expect benefits through decreased military spending, selling to new markets in the DPRK and tapping into its cheap land and labor, said the report from the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.
The report, obtained yesterday, said if the two Koreas reunified in 2015, it would cost the ROK $858 billion over 10 years to absorb its poor neighbor and raise its economy to half that of the ROK's.
If the two started in 2030, the cost would be $1.32 trillion.
Many in the ROK are worried that unifying could wreck its economy - the world's 13th largest. They also fear a flood of refugees coming over the border from the DPRK - whose economy is less than 3 percent the size of the ROK's.
The longer it takes to unify, the greater the gap becomes between the two economies and the more the DPRK's factories and transport and other systems will fall into disrepair.
6-nation talks on energy aid
The DPRK said yesterday it is sincerely living up to its nuclear disarmament pledges and expressed hope that the US and other regional powers will follow through with promised aid, an ROK official said.
Negotiators from the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan began two days of meetings in the Korean border village of Panmunjom to map out details of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
"The North's basic position was that it was to begin disarmament procedures from November 1 and that it has been sincerely responding to second-stage denuclearization measures such as the disablement and declaration" of its nuclear facilities, said Lim Sung-nam, the chief ROK delegate at the meeting.
"The North's side generally expressed hopes the five other parties should also provide it with promised economic and energy aid at an appropriate time," he said after the morning session concluded.
Under an agreement reached by the six nations in February, the DPRK pledged to abandon its nuclear ambitions in exchange for the equivalent of 1 million tons of oil and political concessions.
In nuclear talks that ended on October 3, the DPRK said it would disable its main nuclear facilities and declare all its atomic programs by year's end.
This week's working-level talks are focusing on the delivery of oil aid, energy-related equipment and materials to the DPRK, Lim said.
In the morning session, the DPRK presented a list of energy-related items and materials it wants to receive from other parties, most of which are steel products for renovating its outdated power plants, said a ROK Foreign Ministry official privy to the talks, requesting anonymity in line with ministry policy.
Japan, meanwhile, reiterated its position that it will not take part in a multilateral aid provision for the DPRK unless the DPRK government addresses lingering suspicions regarding abductions of its citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, Lim said.
A US team of nuclear experts traveled to the DPRK earlier this month to prepare a plan for disabling key facilities at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. The ROK and US officials have said other teams of technical experts will visit the DPRK as early as this week to begin actual disablement procedures.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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