The Struggle For And Against A Reunification of the Two Koreas: Pan-Korean Nationalism and Anti-Great Power-ism

The issue of North and South Korean reunification has many factors. Jiyul Kim describes some of these factors, like Pan-Korean Nationalism, Anti-Great Power-ism and US-South Korean relations. He also emphasizes how the generation gap between those who remember the Korean War and those who don't makes a difference in the individual's opinion of foreign policy and North Korea, the US, Japan, and China.

Since the collapse of the USSR, South Korea has started to view North Korea as another brother-victim of "Great Powers" instead of another Communist threat, which has lead to Pan-Korean Nationalism. That has also led to what Kim calls "Anti-Great Power-ism", the South Korean social movement that combines Anti-Americanism and a reaction against Korea being a "victim" of Great Powers, like the US, Japan, China, and the USSR, that the Korean Peninsula experienced since the late 19th Century.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager' article talks about Anti-Americanism (and Anti-Great Power-ism) in South Korea. This ties directly into the issue of security on the Korean Peninsula, because South Koreans are beginning to see the US as an imperialist threat, instead of relying on the Cold War power balance with North Korea as the common US-South Korean threat. She says that Anti-Americanism is nothing new to South Korea but what is new is the fact that the Anti-American sentiment has spread to all levels of the South Korean society, instead of being a more minority view. This has changed because of the rise of Pan-Korean Nationalism has lead to a desire for Korean unity, and the US's designation of North Korea as an "Axis of Evil" country has shifted the way South Koreans view America. Jager says that "More South Koreans today see the United States as a greater threat to their national security than North Korea."

If the South Korean government decides that the US is a bigger threat against North Korea than it is, relations could become strained. This is also exascerbated by the fact that the US still has many military bases in South Korea, bases that are becoming more unecessary ans more contentious as South Korea becomes even more self-sufficient and less threatened by North Korea.