The second set of obstacles and challenges relate to the strategic environment in Northeast Asia. Given the enormous gap that now exists, it is widely argued that permanent integration and eventual unification between the two Koreas will be an extremely challenging and costly process. The first set of problems involves the development of two completely different political, social, and economic systems in the North and South over the course of nearly 70 years. Just as division caused a change in regional dynamics, unification will also forever change the future strategic calculus of all countries in the region. But, unification has been nearly impossible to achieve because of two distinct yet interrelated sets of problems. Since the division, the governments of both North and South Korea have prioritized the reunification of the Korean peninsula as a national goal. The strategic environment of the region and the history of the Korean people were drastically changed by the division and subsequent Korean War. The division of North and South Korea following World War II was a defining moment not just for the Korean peninsula but for all of Northeast Asia.
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