2010, Vol.25, No.1

Korean Policy for Veterans and Future Directions

김성대 | 2010, 25(1) | pp.1~21 | number of Cited : 2

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This study aims to suggest reform recommendations of veterans policy which meet security and economic levels of Korea by comparing Korean policy with those of advanced countries. National security is as important as personal health. If one loses his or her health, he or she will lose everything. If national security collapses, personal economic activities, national status, freedom and happiness of general public can never be guaranteed. For national security, national defense power is important and it can be achieved through strong armies and patriotism. Strong patriotism means that one protects his country at the risk of his life. It occurs when respectable treatments are given to veterans and retired soldiers. However, the budget of our veteran policy is poor. It is no more than 1.7% in comparison with 2.8% of the United States, 5.5% of Australia, and 2.4% of Thailand. Based on our security status, the number of veterans, the history of suffering and budget, administrative organizations and beneficiaries should be expanded. However, as shocks due to sudden expansion of budget is expected, it should be gradual to reach 3%, the levels of advanced countries: 2% within a year or so and 0.1～0.2% within 5 years. The office of veterans should be renamed the ministry of veterans to completely accommodate and manage about eight millions. Then the executive officer should be renamed a minister and veterans committee should be installed for easy budget management. Korea Veterans Committee which contains all the veterans organizations and retired soldiers should be reorganized as democratic. The committee should be a strong center for promotion of reform recommendations targeting political parties and general public. Like the veterans committee of the united states, political activities of members of national assembly should be monitored, recorded and analysed. The members should be divided into favorable and unfavorable, The favorable members should be appointed and the unfavorable members should be defeated in the election to induce care and consideration of political parties and to realize the reform recommendations.

Reexamination on the Construction Process used in the Ramparts of The Goguryeo Jangan Castle

정원철 | 2010, 25(1) | pp.23~45 | number of Cited : 2

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Korea’s Unification Tax and Unification Cost

Kang-nyeong Kim | 2010, 25(1) | pp.47~76 | number of Cited : 2

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The International environment that caused the division in the past has now remarkably changed. To Koreans unification is no longer a matter of sentiment; it has become a task to be carried out in the present reality. This paper is aimed at analysing Korea’s unification tax and unification cost. President Lee Myung-bak in a nationally televised speech on Sunday marking the 65th Liberation Day urged South Koreans to prepare for reunification with North Korea. Lee proposed a “three-stage plan” for reunification along with a “unification tax system” aimed at raising money for the costs of integration. "Reunification will happen. It is therefore our duty to start thinking about real and substantive ways to prepare for reunification such as the adoption of a unification tax," Lee said. President Lee Myung-bak’s surprise proposal Sunday for the “unification tax” has sparked a heated debate among politicians, highlighting a wide ideological rift between the liberal and conservative forces as to how to deal with the communist North Korea. We could learn many lessons from Germany's unification. In Germany, the East-West economic disparity was not quite as wide as the North-South gap in Korea. Still, West Germany spent 400 billion Deutschmarks($226 billion as of 1989) before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and poured 2 trillion euro($2.55 trillion) between 1990 and 2009 to cover unification costs. The Presidential Council for Future and Vision predicted that $2,140 billion (2,525 trillion won) will be required for the next 30 years to raise the living standards of the 24 million Northerners to the Southern level after an abrupt unification. However, the figures could go down to $322 billion if the nation is unified after the Northern economy is normalized through gradual opening. Defense tax was first adopted in 1975 and funded major defense buildup projects until a 1990-phase out. Value-added tax is another probable specific economists name despite the cautious approach taken by the government. It is now time that we start considering the matter as part of preparations for reunification, which will happen eventually. Time has come to prepare realistic measures in anticipation of the day of unification, such as a unification tax. North Korea’s economy is about 38 times smaller than South Korea’s and 18 times smaller on a per-capita basis. Therefore we need to have national level insurance to secure financial resources to pay for the unification process, not just for the North Korean residents but for ourselves and future generations of Koreans.

Analysis of Patterns of Kim Jong-Il’s Field Supervise after Death March : From 2000 to 2009

Young Min Park | 2010, 25(1) | pp.77~96 | number of Cited : 7