Experts agree it would cost trillions to unify North and South Korea

(Image credit: South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty Images)

published 12 June 2018

Let's say North and South Korea decide they are ready to move forward as one country — how long would it take, and how much would it cost?  

CBS MoneyWatch spoke with several experts, who agree it would cost a trillion dollars under the best circumstances, and would take several decades. Some estimate it would cost at least $3 trillion, and everything hinges on why the countries are coming together — if it was an agreement, the cost would be less, but if North Korea's economy collapsed or war broke out, the price tag would have to include reconstruction costs.

William Parker, COO of the East West Institute, told CBS MoneyWatch not to expect the two countries to come together like East and West Germany did. "The GDP per capita is $33,200 in South Korea and $1,800 in the North," he said. "If you compare those numbers to West and East Germany, it's a completely different ballgame — the [per capita GDP] ratio there was estimated between 7 or 10 to 1 as opposed to 40 to 1 in the case of South and North Korea." South Korea's annual economic output is about $2 trillion, while North Korea's is an estimated $40 billion, with China accounting for 90 percent of its total trade volume.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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