Berlin, Dresden, and Seoul

[Seoul Sinmun · Open World · October 31, 2013]

Yun Suk-myung, Director of the Pension Research Center at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA)

Interest in Germany is growing. This began as I examined the process of integrating social security schemes before and after unification. It was after learning that 50% of the vast unification costs were related to social security, and pensions accounted for 25% of the total unification cost. This feeling intensified when I began to wonder what would happen if a similar event occurred for us. Even though Germany unified with East Germany—a place where citizens of former Eastern European countries who visited before unification admired as a paradise where people lived well—it still cost this much.

The expert meetings of the 'Korea-Germany Unification Advisory Committee,' a human exchange network between the Ministry of Unification and the German Ministry of the Interior, served as an opportunity to broaden my understanding of Germany. September 22, the day I arrived in Berlin to attend the meeting, was the day of the German federal election. The news that forming a coalition government was not easy despite the landslide victory of Merkel's CDU doubled my interest in Germany. It was because the CDU, which received over 40% support, seemed as though it would be easy to form a coalition government by partnering with minor parties, but it was not as simple as expected. This is because they fear the judgment of voters who voted for parties representing specific values. It is likely because the judgment of voters is severe if a party's identity is weakened through a hasty coalition.

It was also interesting that the German people wanted a 'grand coalition,' meaning a coalition between the majority party and the second-largest party, rather than a coalition with minor parties. This is likely for the sake of smooth governance. Accordingly, the prevailing view on the ground was that the CDU, the largest party, and the SPD, the second-largest, would form a grand coalition. A month later, as expected, news came that they had agreed to conclude the grand-coalition negotiations before Christmas.

The German Ministry of the Interior provided a notebook as a souvenir containing all records for 365 days a year related to unification. The notebook for 2014 also included a 2015 calendar. Germany is a meticulous country that hands over a notebook already containing a 2015 calendar in September 2013; yet, even such a Germany did not anticipate the timing of unification. It is said that until three months before unification, the majority of German citizens thought they would not see unification in their lifetime.

The place that this German government guided me to as a symbol of unification was Dresden, which belonged to the former East Germany. It was a city that suffered an immense tragedy during World War II; in a situation where the anti-aircraft defense network had collapsed, a massive number of civilians were sacrificed in large-scale bombings, and 90% of buildings were destroyed. The government seemed to want to show how Dresden is rising again from the pain of history. It seemed they wanted to present Dresden as a symbol of reconciling with the past history by overcoming the destruction caused by indiscriminate bombing and the pain of division, and by recovering its old appearance through connecting remaining traces via thorough historical verification. This was accompanied by an explanation that if unification had been delayed further, there is a high possibility that many cultural heritages in the former East German region would have completely disappeared from history.

While I was listening to explanations about the restoration process of Dresden as a symbol of reconciliation with past history, news regarding the Basic Pension flew in from Seoul. This was because it was the day the government's proposal for the Basic Pension, which had been highly controversial, was announced. Now, a month after the government proposal was announced, the Basic Pension is becoming a black hole in Seoul that absorbs all welfare issues. This is because perspectives on the Basic Pension are so different. Given this situation, it seems time to look back at why 40% of pension benefits are being cut over 30 years under 'Agenda 2010' in Germany, the original country of the Bismarck-style public pension system—which first introduced a pension system in the world and is characterized by generous pension benefits.

To escape from the black hole of the Basic Pension, it seems necessary to clarify the vision and institutional operating principles intended to be achieved through the Basic Pension, along with considerations on how to cope with the super-aged society that will arrive rapidly and how to resolve the pension issues of North Korean residents if unification occurs. Rather than simply imitating the outward form of various systems adopted by Germany, it seems we are at a point where an accurate understanding is needed regarding what values were formed through what deliberations and what systems drive various institutions. This is necessary even to overcome the reality where welfare schemes introduced for the happiness of the people instead trigger social conflict.

Source: Seoul Sinmun (original article)