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Comment by runamuck | Hacker News Reader

"North Korea’s border with South Korea is a disputed border as both countries claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula." - I did not know South Korea felt this way!

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FWIW, this is no longer true for North Korea: a few years back they removed all references to reunification from the constitution and designated South Korea as an enemy state. They even refer to it by its South Korean name now (Hanguk/Daehanminguk), instead of the previous Namchoson.

That does sound a bit agressive. To be clear, South Korea doesn't so much 'claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula' as much as it aims to unify the entire peninsula into a single country through peaceful means (at least, since the military government left power in the late '80s).

This article is also from 2021 and things have changed a bit in the North. North Korea changed their constitution a couple of years ago and removed any mention of unification with the South, and defined their territory as basically the existing North/South split (aka 38th parallel). South Korea has been redefined from 'partner in national unity' to 'enemy to be destroyed, by nuclear weapons if need be'.

There's a lot of pretty interesting analysis of North Korea at the 38 North blog (https://www.38north.org/), among other good sources.

I was fascinated to learn while visiting they consider themselves ‘at war’ and generations from a unified time still strongly believe in the cause.

In tech specifically this leads to some surprising results such as transit planning being very ineffective or broken in google maps due to onshore data storage requirements. Subway alignments are regarded as sensitive info

>I was fascinated to learn while visiting they consider themselves ‘at war’

fun fact, Japan and Russia are technically in a state of war too. The World War II hasn't ended. They have never signed a treaty over the Kuril Islands, and they both claim them.

According to wikipedia "Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 but did not sign a peace treaty."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_Joint_...

I would so love to visit, but I read an increase in tensions a few years ago caused a tourism stoppage

Indeed the fighting ended in an armistice so the war was never legally declared to be over. Visiting the DMZ between the countries is a surreal experience - part tense stand-off, part theme park.

I wonder what would happen if South Korea simply said they weren’t at war anymore. Acknowledge that yes, North Korea considers them at war with us. However, we consider us to be peaceful neighbours.

Whenever North Korea threatens them, simply reply with how sorry you are their brother nation feels this way, and you wish them a peaceful and successful future.

Leave the DMZ intact of course, but just unilaterally declare you are not actually at war and have nothing but brotherly love for them.

It's not the South Koreans per se that they have a problem with - it's the presence of the US military in South Korea that is seen as the real threat to North Korea. So if the South Koreans honestly want to repair their relation with the North Koreans, they will, at the very least, have to ask the Americans to leave. But the Americans will not leave because they have a hostile relation with the North Koreans, and they believe their presence in South Korea is the only thing preventing the North Koreans from throwing a few nukes at them. China and Russia will also not allow the North Koreans to repair their relations with the South Koreans unless they have guarantees from South Korea that they will be mindful of Chinese and Russian security concerns (which, in realpolitik terms would require South Korea to cut of ties with the US military and becoming "neutral").

Can't open the article, so maybe it was already mentioned. But not only does South Korea claim the entire Peninsula, they even consider North Koreans as South Korean citizens.

And yet, they are very wary and afraid of unification due to the impact it may have on their economy. A unified Korea may become a "developing nation" again.

South Korea sounds like Ireland. Ireland has a constitutional “firm will” to reunite the island, and people living in Northern Ireland (a part of the UK) can get Irish citizenship.

Due to this, back when Hong Kong was under U.K control, a person born in North Ireland to a Hong Kong resident could claim 3 birthright citizenships: U.K., Ireland, and China.

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