S. Korea seeking to raise public awareness on unification with N. Korea

SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Wednesday it has held a series of seminars and other meetings for students, business people, religious leaders and civic officials to raise public awareness about potential unification with North Korea.
The campaign, which drew some 37,000 people over the past several months, came as South Korea is working on a plan on how to finance the potential unification, according to the Unification Ministry.
The ministry, which is in charge of inter-Korean affairs, also launched an Internet broadcast service last weekend in the latest attempt to enhance public interest in unifying the two divided Koreas.
Seoul has been working on details of a so-called unification tax since last year when President Lee Myung-bak floated the idea of using taxpayer money to cushion the cost of unification.
In August, a state-run think tank estimated that the initial costs for the integration of the two Koreas could vary from 55 trillion won (US$46 billion) to 249 trillion won ($209 billion).
The estimate, which is projected to cover the first year of integration, was based on the assumption that the two neighbors could be unified two decades from now, according to the Korea Institute for National Unification.
The Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
entropy@yna.co.kr
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