Will future North and South Korean negotiators identify more with their shared Korean ethnicity and language or with their respective countries?
How many will be each other's classmates from childhood, classmates with whom they solved problems successfully during their schooling?
The DMZ in Panmunjeom, within daily commuting range for students from Seoul, Kaesong, and possibly P'yongyang too
The Korean School is a novel catalyst for generating a lasting Korea solution. Serving two countries, this day school will rest in the middle of the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Panmunjom, 53 km northwest of Seoul, South Korea and 10 km east of Kaesong, one of North Korea's largest cities.
It would be designed to attract children of South Korean national politicians in Seoul, children of North Korean politicians working in the Kaesong Industrial Region office, and children from families in the surrounding general public. A secured road from Kaesong and a rail link from Seoul will allow for easy commutes each day for the students. If needed, United Nations officials from UNISwould be the initial administrators, and U.N. peacekeepers would assist the North and South Korean security forces on the school's perimeter.
The school could also include the children of North Korean national leaders in P'yongyang, but that would require the construction of a high-speed rail line to ferry those children to the DMZ each day. Once there is a Korean solution, however, the high-speed line could connect with the one coming from Seoul to reunify the link between these two metropolises. South Korea's high-speed rail system, KTX, already has a high-speed rail line from Busan at the southern end of the peninsula to Seoul. Pyongyang is roughly 145 km in a straight line from Panmunjeom, and the fastest regularly scheduled high-speed train goes 320 km/hr - maglev trains not included. Pyongyang students' commute would be about an hour each way if we include time needed to get to the KTX station. Click here to watch a video filmed from inside a KTX train as it goes over 300 km/hr.
In the students' final year at the secondary level, they would take a political science class in which they would jointly brainstorm solutions to the Korean stalemate. Their years of completing projects utilizing cooperative learning would aid their creativity.
Click above to see a drawing of The Korean School.
