I've speculated in the past that North Korea, while it can't afford their large army, also can't afford to demobilize their army lest those young men be a threat to the North Korean regime. I even worried that North Korea might start a war they know they'd lose just to get South Korea and America to kill off those problematic young men.
If peace is achieved between North Korea and (technically) the rest of the world, what does North Korea do with their huge army when it will be decades before North Korea can absorb them in the economy? Certainly, some will be of use in building in North Korea to start the long process of catching up with South Korea, but most will lack the skills to be of use. Yet they will exist and be justifiably angry with their government--especially as they see the contrast with the rest of the world that spent the years since World War II becoming more prosperous.
This is interesting, and a possible opportunity:
Japan’s aging population, however, is creating a demand for foreign labor. Japan’s population peaked at 127.8 million in 2004 and has fallen by over 1.5 million since then, and its working-age population has dropped by over ten million since 1997. ... Workers in construction and mining, caretaking, food service, hospitality, and retail are in particularly short supply. ...
In the face of these shortages, the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shifted toward a greater openness to foreign workers, although the word “immigration” remains taboo.
Guest workers would be fine for Japan, I imagine. Could the guest workers come from North Korea?
If the current diplomacy can somehow bring peace to the Korean peninsula, what does poverty-stricken North Korea do with all the young men in their army that the economy could not possibly absorb in the near term, and who are a potential threat to the North Korean government until they can be put to work?
North Koreans already have the habit of going abroad as virtual slave labor to earn foreign currency for the government. Going to Japan where they earn money for themselves and their families (minus normal taxation) might seem like a glorious opportunity.
After a period as guest workers, they would return to North Korea richer, with useful skills from a modern economy, and past the age of storming government buildings.
Is Japan's problem an opportunity for peace?
