Notwithstanding the successful testing of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) by North Korea leading to heightened tension in the peninsula, South Koreans are strongly in favour of a rapprochement between Seoul and Pyongyang that will ultimately lead to the Korean unification.

New South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s peace overtures towards the ‘rogue’ North Korean regime may have received a major setback in the wake of the testing of the ICBM, he is unlikely to eschew his efforts at reconciliation with the pariah state to ease the 72-year stand-off between the two Koreas, leading South Korean experts and intellectuals told a team of foreign journalists earlier this week.

The common refrain in Seoul is that the people of the North must not be punished for the ‘misdeeds’ of their leader Kim Jong Un, who chose to conduct the ICBM test to taunt both Washington and Seoul within days of a meeting between President Donald Trump and the South Korean President, considered one of the most progressive and liberal leaders by his countrymen.

Public support for engagement with North Korea is overwhelming. Over 70 per cent of South Koreans support reestablishing dialogue channels with North Korea, according to a recent survey by the National Unification Advisory Council.

‘’Reunification will be great for our society, our divided families. We spend so much on our defence. We are paying a very high premium on division in the peninsula,’’ Bong Geun Jun, Professor and Director General at the Department of Security and Unification Studies said.

And in what is being considered a significant development that has raised the reunification hopes of the South Koreans, the North just two weeks back allowed its taekwondo team to perform in the South in the first sport exchange between the two countries after President Moon’s inauguration in early May.

None in Seoul can forget the tears and hugs after North and South Korean women won the 1991 team table tennis world championships, a standing ovation when athletes from the two Koreas marched together to open the 2000 Sydney Olympics or a selfie taken by a South Korean gymnast with her North Korean opponent that went viral at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Games.

South Koreans say more of these feel-good sparks could well be in the offing if North Korea participates in the Winter Olympics to be hosted by the South at Pyeongchang from February 9-25next year when Seoul plans to showcase its economic, cultural and sporting might to the world. A spokesperson for the Winter Olympics Games Organising Committee said North Korea’s participation in the biggest sporting event that South Korea is hosting after the 1988 Olympics would give an unprecedented charm to the extravaganza.

Of course, there is also a miiuscule group which doubts whether President Moon’s efforts will pay off because of a serious escalation in North Korean nuclear and missile arsenals. Some believe that the North Korean dictator would never allow his people or any foreigner visiting his nation to defy him or even talk of unification.

They cite the example of an American student, Otto Warmbier,who last month died just days after North Korea released him from prison 17 months after he was arrested at the airport in Pyongyang for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster when on a sight-seeing tour organised by a China-based company.

There are also doubts about China’s ability or willingness to influence North Korea as its most important neighbour and economic partner. According to Jung Kim of the University of North Korean Studies, China and North Korea did enjoy a very strong political relationship in the past but things were not the same now. Beijing was shy of getting involved directly in the affairs of the Korean peninsula, he added.