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Citizens attach prayer ribbons to the chain-link fence near the border. The fence, covered in barbed wire, holds messages of hope, dreams, and wishes for the unification of North and South Korea.

kept to a minimum. For others, the better solution for South Korea is to export its culture just as it exports cars and televisions: The recent waves of K-pop music groups and the growth of e-sports reflect how the world is increasingly tuning in to South Korea. Reunification of theKoreanPeninsula is a dreamshared bymany, but not all. Neither North Korea nor South Korea is willing to be subordinate to the other’s government. The Chinese do not totally trust North Korea but prefer it nevertheless to a unified, capitalist Korea. Many South Koreans question the merits of reunification if it means they would have to bear the tremendous financial burden of lifting North Korea out of its desperate poverty. Attempts by the United Nations, the World Bank, or South Korea’s Ministry of Unification to pull the nations together and work out a road map for peace and unity have made little progress. Sanctions, trade embargoes, and cutting off aid have not been enough to convince North Korea to change its plans. If there are any voices of dissent within North Korea itself, they are either shut down immediately or not made known to the outside world. The situation in Korea today remains a stalemate. North Korea controls the fourth-largest army in the world by size, believing (or at least promoting the belief) that the war may flare up again at any time.The demilitarized zone (DMZ) betweenNorth and SouthKorea

13 Introduction