Even if Trump-Kim summit clicks, Koreans might never

They look different, speak different, and in terms of technology might as well be living in different centuries. Integration between North and South Koreans in a reunified country would not come easy

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Reunification ribbons at the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00pm, 10 Jun 2018Updated: 7:22pm, 10 Jun 2018

When North and South Korean leaders Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in met with handshakes over talk of partnerships and family reunions at the recent Inter-Korean summit, for the first time in a decade the almost unimaginable idea of reunification seemed attainable, however far off.

Now, with the looming North Korea-US summit, at which Donald Trump will become the first acting American president to meet a leader of the hermit state since the Korean war, the air is further abuzz with optimism for inter-Korean reconciliation.

But for any such reconciliation to succeed, major issues that have grown out of 68 years of division must first be addressed. While these include economic and infrastructure disparities, it is the cultural divide that may prove the widest gulf.

Tech-savvy South Korea is home to the fastest internet on Earth. It also has one of the most internet-literate populations – 92 per cent of South Koreans use the internet, according to Internet World Stats.

Signboards for smartphones in Seoul. Photo: AFP

In North Korea, a restricted intranet provides limited access to the internet for a small number of universities, government elites and foreigners. Only 10 per cent of the population is estimated ever to have accessed it.

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