My reaction to the new Inter-Korean Agreement in a nutshell

a) Roh Moo-hyun and his predecessor Kim Dae-jung and cohorts have created, in the Sunshine Policy, an atmosphere in which South Korea expects to reconcile with North Korea through dialogue Advances are touted by astute politicians while setbacks are studiously ignored.

b) As the Marmot points out, likely next president Lee Myeong-bak will be politically bound to go through with the joint plans made by Roh and Kim Jong-il. To not do so would be seen as unacceptable provocation.

c) As much of the joint projects will be funded by private industry (hat tip to the Marmot again), Korea's corporations will have a vested interest in both the international perception that North Korea is making progress and the continued cooperation of the Kim regime.

d) With both politicians and corporations in South Korea heavily invested in the perception of progress on the North-South issue, advances both real and imagined will be touted more vigourously while setbacks will be swept so far under the linoleum that it'll take the ondol extra long to heat up.

e) As for North Korea, they now recognize that pointing missiles at Seoul and threatening to turn the city into a lake of fire is no longer a viable means of extorting aid. It is both cheaper and easier to demilitarize while allowing the placement of South Korea's public and private sector's cherished symbols of peninsular unity to be built, at South Korean expense, in North Korea. Now, all North Korea needs to put South Korea in appeasement mode is close a plant or, in a kind of reverse Gazprom maneuver, close the South Korea-China train line. A master stroke, I must say.

Enriched beer

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has single-handedly made Korea, Korean barbecue, and Korea's famously delicious beer famous. Finally, Korea enters the ranks of developed parody-worthy nations. (See a woefully non-Korea-related clip here, and then go see if tv-links.co.uk has it up yet.)

Imagine your country cut in half

for fifty years, and then you take the first tentative steps towards reconciliation with a nice concert featuring performers from both countries. So your half of the country, the half that remained sheltered from the outside world, hosts the show. And the other half of the country sends one of their biggest boy bands. But they come out dressed all sloppy with what appears to be women's makeup on, screaming things in a foreign language and singing like some kind of Bollywood act, basically confirming everything you've always said about them, that they are under the negative influence of cultural imperialism from X country and that they've lost their way.
You don't have to imagine it anymore. Here it is. South Korean boy band Shinhwa in Pyeongyang, North Korea.

Citizens or human capital?

If you are a notable American citizen of Korean descent (like Hines Ward or Michelle Wie) you can expect to be feted like a returning hero should you wish to visit South Korea. If you are a South Korean citizen who's been abducted by North Korea, spent the last three decades there in captivity and then escaped thanks to the efforts of your wife, who never gave up and spent all the money she'd saved working as a cleaning lady to get you out of North Korea, you can expect to be treated as a nuisance by your own government. Because you represent zero opportunity for anyone in power to profit.
Nice, South Korean government, you lazy selfish pieces of trash.