From the Ashes

From the Ashes. . , The objective of the Korean War for both sides was unification of the Korean peninsula under their particular form of government. Neither side achieved their goal., After the Armistice, with Soviet and Chinese help, North Korean rebuilt itself and prospered economically and culturally. During this time, South Korea languished under several oppressive and corrupt dictatorships. In the 1970s, using loans from Japan and the United States, the South Korean economy began to move forward. In the 1980s, the people reshaped their government into a democratic republic. Today, South Korea is one of the most developed and wealthiest nations on the planet., Meanwhile, with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, North Korea lost its largest trade partner and military provider. A series of floods, drought, and famine devastated the land. Today, the nation’s totalitarian dictatorships keeps the North Korean people uninformed, underfed, and under constant surveillance., Reunification of the nation is still a hope for many, but whether this will ever happen, and if it does, whether it will be a peaceful process or a return to bloodshed, remains to be seen.,

Its been long , Since we’ve been living , Divided into South and North,, The azaleas , Are sad, , Blooming on rusted rails., Some have died , Calling for unification, , But history seems unmoved., When are we going to meet , And live together? , Our Fatherland is ailing. , To cry for , Hometown, liberty, and peace, , With desperate yearning. , I in the South , You in the North , With hearts cut in tow, , We suffer each other’s sorrow., Butterflies , Can fly over barbed wire fences, , When will this barrier between us , Be razed, , And by Whom? , We are one race , And one nation, , The day we embrace , And sign together, , The azaleas blooming on rusted rails , Will smile with glee., Then, on the grave of my Fatherland , History will revive, like mist in spring, , And we will not regret , Having lived through this privation. , Pak Pong-u (South Korean Poet) , Blooming on the Wasteland ,