Hundreds of thousands of families separated
by the Korean War have left an indelible scar
on the national psyche.
And the clock is ticking for those who are
still alive and hoping for a reunion.
Our Moon Conn-young was in Berlin to take
a look at lessons from Germany's similar history.
Although more than two decades have passed
since the fall of the Berlin Wall, remnants
of it still stand in different parts of the
German capital.
For tourists, it's a must-see travel spot,
for new Berliners, it's a part of history.
For those who lived through it, it's a reminder
of a sudden event that altered their lives
forever.
Along the Bernauer Strasse, we met Reinhard
Hummel, a former West Berliner who vividly
remembers the day 52 years ago when he, overnight,
found himself separated suddenly from the
love of his life by a concrete barrier 3-point-6
meters tall.
Reinhard, however, was able to see her on
occasion.
"I would go to East Berlin from time to time,
about once a month on a one-day visa."
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government
of the German Democratic Republic built a
concrete wall topped with barbed wired between
East and West Berlin.
For the next few years, no humans would cross
it.
But that changed in the late '60s after the
West German government implemented a new foreign
policy towards the east: change through rapprochement
and a policy of small steps.
"It was part of our policy to keep up the
connections of both parts of Germany and to
perform a real human policy in the interest
of the ordinary people of both parts of the
divided Germany.
This was a political aim.
And, the result of unification very quickly
in 1990."
For the hundreds of thousands of people who
were allowed to visit loved ones after years
of forced separation, these "small steps"
were highly significant.
" I was separated from my family for 25 years.
Then I was able to file a request to move
to the West in January, 1985 and was given
permission to leave East Germany in December
that year."
"The German experience is the closest historical
precedent to the situation on the Korean peninsula.
Now, that doesn't mean it provides a direct
template for the two Koreas, but experts say
there are some useful lessons that the Koreas
could learn from the German experience.
Moon Conn-young, Arirang News, Berlin."
