S.Korea wants China to back reunification via trade: leaks

Fav Tag: Wikileaks SEOUL: South Korea believes that the offer of commercial deals could help a reluctant China get on board the idea of Korean reunification, according to US diplomatic cables cited by the New York Times.

The cables, part of a trove divulged by WikiLeaks, showed contingency planning by US and South Korean diplomats should the isolated communist state of North Korea implode, according to an NYT report.

A February 2010 cable from the US ambassador in Seoul said South Korean officials believe that the right trade inducements would "help salve" China's "concerns about living with a reunified Korea" existing in a "benign alliance" with the United States, the report said.

The actual cable was not immediately accessible on the WikiLeaks database. 
The whistle-blower website has said it will publish thousands more documents over the coming days.

China sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight for North Korea during the 1950-53 war after advancing US-led United Nations forces approached its Yalu border river with the North.

It is widely believed to be uneasy at the prospect of a unified Korea with strong ties to the United States, which currently has 28,500 troops stationed in the South.

China also fears that instability in the North could prompt a flood of refugees into its northeastern provinces.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in August unveiled a multi-step blueprint for reunification, starting with a "peace community" after the peninsula is cleared of nuclear weapons.

The next step is to dramatically develop the North's economy and form an "economic community in which the two will work for economic integration", he said at the time, also proposing a unification tax in the South to finance the hefty cost.