WILL the meeting between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In eventually lead to the reunification of the two Koreas like what happened to Germany, which was once divided into East Germany and West Germany? Hard to say considering that this was only the first meeting of the two leaders. But the meeting did spark hopes of, at the very least, more dialogues to come.

The meeting of the two Korean leaders made me recall Germany. Like Korea, Germany’s division was a by-product of World War II and the subsequent Cold War between the United States and the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The symbol of Germany’s division was the Berlin Wall while Korea has the 38th Parallel. The Berlin Wall crumbled in November 1989 when the Cold War thawed.

It is not mere coincidence that both Korea and Germany were divided along ideological lines. East Germany had communist leadership and so has North Korea under Kim Il Sung and now Kim Jong Un. West Germany, like South Korea now follows western bourgeois democracy. The ideological divide represented the character of the originators of the partition of both territories, the USSR, which collapsed in 1991, and the United States.

I say the partition was the saddest thing that happened to the peoples of the concerned territories. We already heard stories of members of some families estranged from each other because of the division. Family members living in South Korea could no longer see the family members living in the north, and vice-versa. That’s why reunification for them is also an emotional thing.

Imagine Mindanao separating from the Visayas and Luzon and setting up its own republic and protecting the integrity of its border. That would mean there would no longer be much of an interaction between us and the descendants of my father’s brothers who left Tudela in the Camotes group of islands for Davao decades ago.

Germany’s unification became possible mainly because of the weakening of East Germany and, by extension, the weakening of the leadership of USSR, which propped up the government of East Germany. No such weakening could be seen for now in the North Korean leadership under the hawkish Kim Jong Un while China, which is propping the North Korean government, is as strong as ever.

Still, the Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-In meeting is significant considering that it followed months of warmongering by Kim on one side and US President Donald Trump on the other stemming from North Korea flaunting of its nuclear capability. In a way, Kim Jong Un outmaneuvered Trump, who has been shunted to the sidelines, on this one. China also seems to be a non-participant.

Korean reunification is still an impossibility as this stage considering the cost: the dismantling of the two governments and the willingness of the leaders of the two states to embrace a unified leadership. But the two leaders are already talking peace, which is the more important thing for now. The tension that gripped the two Koreas, and to a certain extent the tension that blanketed Asia because of it, has eased considerably.

Which is good for all of us.