alt Hacker News(I'm a South Korean.)
> According to the prevailing narrative in North Korea, the war was won by the communists and since then, the entire Korean peninsula has remained united under the rule of the Korean Workers’ Party.
This is either not true at all or the writer phrased strangely — both of the governments (South & North) recognize that the war is still on-going and they have an enemy that is controlling the other half of the peninsula that they do not control. However, both of the governments also argue that they are the only legal government that is ought to control the whole peninsula and does not recognize each other's legitimacy. For example, ROK(Republic of Korea, the government that controls the southern part of the peninsula)'s constitution writes that it's government governs the whole peninsula and it's islands. It's like how both PRC(People's Republic of China, i.e. China) and ROC(Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan) both argue that they are the only legal government over all of China (i.e. Mainland China and Taiwan combined).
> Therefore, when looking at the maps in this atlas, it should come as no surprise that Korea is always shown as one country, with no reference to the other country that exists at the southern tip of the peninsula.
It is universally agreed between the two governments (and their citizens) that a unification should happen at some point, so it is obvious that we should be using a map that covers the whole peninsula. We (as South Koreans) also learn 'our country' as the whole peninsula.
> This North Korean world map is centred on the Pacific Ocean, which gives Korea a privileged position on the global stage.
Not going to lie, sometimes it feels that some of the Westerners act like that they don't even think of the remote possibility that they might not be the center of the world…?
South Korean maps do this, China maps do this, Japanese maps do this, I'm pretty sure South East Asia countries also do this, it's a normal thing to do. There's nothing special about having the Pacific Ocean centered.
Replies
>It is universally agreed between the two governments (and their citizens) that a unification should happen at some point
South Koreans don't seriously believe this would ever be possible do they?
The North has officially rejected unification, and regards South Korea as a separate, enemy country.
Yes, that's complete nonsence.
My friend was on a guided tour to North Korea, and they aware of a lot of things. For example, the population of the North and the South was somehow accurately described to the tourists as 25 and 50 million, and they don't question that fact.
( I lived in South Korea, and I read Korean rather well, and have traveled very extensively in South Korea. I have seen North Korean across the borders from 4 sites. )
The prevailing narrative in North Korea is utter propaganda: You cannot win a war that is still not over.
Korea should reunite as some point, when the North has a moderate leader or falls like East Germany. Until then all the wishful thinking of a deranged leader in the North, will amount to cold, cold air. The North Koreans starved millions of their own citizens. Millions, and continue to do so.
"Government Policies: The state's rigid public distribution system failed, disproportionately affecting the urban population and rural areas, while prioritizing food for the military and political elite. The government was slow to seek international aid and restricted the access of foreign relief agencies, diverting much of the aid that did arrive. "
Westerners who are not traveled, do believe themselves to be the center of the universe, its why they are almost universally known as 'Ugly Americans.' Loads of those in South Korea.
An honest map of korea would be east west centered on the China sea, looking over the plains, and with the mountains at the top... ( I am getting emotional now at the thought of the mountains... so incredibly beautiful, and... amazingly clean. ) My wish for Korean Unification is to see the Golden Mountain. (金剛山), and for the long separated families to see each other.
Rotate all these maps 90 degrees counter clockwise.
The best hope for unification for Korea... was laid out by Sec Hillary Clinton, who before she became Secretary of state, basically reiterated verbatim one of the most well thought out assessments of unification I have ever heard. Since she is not exactly a professor of Far East Studies, someone in the State Department must have written it for her, someone who had been studying it for decades, like I have.
>> This North Korean world map is centred on the Pacific Ocean, which gives Korea a privileged position on the global stage.
> Not going to lie, sometimes it feels that some of the Westerners act like that they don't even think of the remote possibility that they might not be the center of the world…?
Westerner who also thought this was a strange comment and that the centering of the Korean peninsula was a totally natural decision for this atlas