According to a report titled "An American Strategy For Asia" out Monday, the conservative American Enterprise Institute says, "From an American perspective, many South Koreans seem to harbor unrealistic hopes of achieving inter-Korean comity in the near term, yet remain reluctant to take any steps toward unification for fear of triggering instability and creating a huge financial burden."

The report says Korean society “is changing rapidly, and the rising generation remembers America more as the backer of repressive anti-Communist military governments than as the nation’s ally and defender during the Korean War."

The report echoes earlier remarks by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Bush administration, who said South Korea's remarkable economic success has paradoxically made its people comfortable with the status quo. In an article in the November/December 2008 issue of the National Interest, a periodical published by the Nixon Institute, he said although South Koreans prefer national unification in the abstract, they fear the economic difficulties and potential costs of absorbing North Koreans.

As a result, South Koreans are apathetic about North Korea and the South Korean government, regardless of its political propensity, has tried to avoid tension with North Korea, or even given "protection money" to the North, Kelly said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )