The purpose of this paper is to present the social integration of South-North Korea
from a cultural point of view by employing a methodology of the inter-cultural
communication hermeneutics. The inter-cultural communication method has been driven by
an emphasis on the relationships among different cultures in search of the most
productive pathways to construct the more reliable and collaborative community in this
global ear. As globalization and localization intensify in every corner of the world, the field
of social-cultural integration of South-North of Korea is increasingly confronted by more
fundamental issues of identity, community, and humanity. Culture, along with the
political-economic dimension, has come to be one of the dominant issues within the
social integration process of South-North Korea. Inter-cultural communication provides a
conceptual framework for analyzing interaction between dissimilar societies of South-North
Korea. This paper presents a critical view about the frequent use of South Korea's cultural
standards in intercultural communication as a form of hegemony, which is linked with
globalization as Anglo-Americanization, trans-nationalization, and commercialization. The
model of social integration has been discussed based on the four representative theories:
functionalist, neo-functionalist, systematic theory, and structural analysis to bring up the
recreation of the Korean organic model of integration without relying on a particular
westernized model. The survival and flourishing of two Koreas depends on the ability to
communicate successfully across differences. This paper examines the futuristic forms of
cultural integration: culture of distance, restoration of the ancient Korean cultural heritage,
cultural bi-polarity, disintegration of ethnocentrism, neo-Korean feminism & sex culture,
and conflict between nationalism and fundamental religions. The basic rationale of this
paper is on that the mutual referencing and learning of South-North Korea that will be
vital to the harmonious social integration of South-North Korea. Somewhere in the convergence of the two cultures and perceptions the South-North Korea, they discover the
channel of the ‘transversality’ of culture and the meaning of co-existence as well.