[TEDX] North and South: A love story?

There is a love story going on between Israel and Iran, which is quite ironic. These two countries had been very hostile to each other because they fought for a long time. Even though the event seems ironic, it succeeded anyway. This peace movement spread out from the boundaries of Israel and Iran, and led to the formation of numerous facebook pages claiming that country A loves country B. Therefore, the Israeli graphic designer Ronny Edry, who first started the "We love you" movement, was able to talk at TED.

The question I was interested in was whether this movement can be applied to South Korea and North Korea. When I saw the video, I thought that this kind of movement cannot happen between South and North Korea because North Koreans do not have access to social networking systems, which played a crucial role in spreading the "love story" between Israel and Iran. In fact, most North Koreans do not have access to the Internet, and even though one North Korean was able to go into the Internet, he would be only possible to see pages that have gone through severe censorship. Therefore, even though South Koreans send many photos containing the message "South Korea loves North Korea," the majority of North Koreans would not be able to receive that message.

North Koreans' limited access to South Korean messages is not the only problem. North Koreans are educated in a system that depicts South Korea and the US as the axis of evil. For example, when a North Korean child was asked "What do you want to say to the president of South Korea?", he answered "The president of South Korea should stop slaughtering South Korean people." Moreover, the North Korean government regularly opens a lecture criticizing South Korea. Because most North Koreans are brainwashed by the North Korean government, North Koreans may not see the South Korean "love letters" as it is, but see as if these letters have a virulent purpose.

But it is too early to put down the hope of making a love story between South Korea and North Korea. The significance of the movement between Israel and Iran is that it formed a warm emotional bridge between Israelis and Iranians and made the people of both countries capable to think independently, without being influenced by their government. Today, more and more North Koreans are not believing North Korean propaganda as they know more and more about real South Korea. In the future, the love story between South and North Korea may come true.