Korea perspectives

This is important. The Marmot's Hole is the preeminent blog about Korea in English.
I hope someone in the State Department is paying attention because most Americans don't have a clue.

A poll by the Munhwa Ilbo and KSOI revealed that the South Korean public was strongly opposed to unilateral U.S. military action against North Korea. How opposed, you might ask? When asked what the South Korean government should do if the U.S. bombed the North without Seoul’s approval, only 31.2 percent said the South should stand with the U.S., while 47.6 percent said Seoul should take the North’s side. Even among conservative Grand National Party supporters, only 38.6 percent responded that Seoul should take the U.S. side, while 41.1 percent said Seoul should stand with Pyongyang. Support for the North was higher in all regional, age and class groups.

This is consistent with a survey given on February 13, when 56 percent of respondents said the solution to the nuclear issue was for the “U.S. to guarantee North Korea’s system (regime).” 74 percent said “North Korea needed to be persuaded” to give up its nukes, while only 23 percent said North Korea needed to be pressured.

LINK

I said it before and I say it again:
Koreans do not think in terms of two countries. That notion is a tragic and misleading construct deriving from the unfinished business of the Korean conflict.

When Columbus discovered the New World the capital of Korea was already many centuries old. Events of the last century are but a small part of Korean national history. The word nationalism as used in the West is not adequate to describe the unity of the Korean people. When the day comes that DPRK and ROK become one there will be a power on the Asian landscape that will parallel both Japan and China.