Germany launches educational project on DMZ, Berlin Wall

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province — Young South Koreans, according to recent surveys, have been less open than older generations to reunification of the Korean Peninsula. The situation is similar in Germany. Knowledge and interest in division and reunification of the country has been declining among the young who were born after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. This was where Goethe-Institute Korea came in, to tackle such challenges faced by the two countries and raise awareness toward reunification.

 
On Jan. 24, the institute, Germany’s language and cultural center in Seoul, launched a project, “Wallpeckers — From the DMZ to the Berlin Wall,” in cooperation with Seoul-based educational game developer Nolgong and Arts Council Korea, which operates under the wing of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The launch ceremony took place at Dorasan Station, the northernmost train stop at the South Korean border town of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, to help participants get a better understanding of a divided Korea. The project was named after “Mauerspechte,” a German term for those who chipped the Berlin Wall with hammers during its fall. The players, using smartphones and offline educational resources, slipped into the role of journalists and put together facts, figures and images for their newspaper articles on German reunification and inter-Korean reconciliation. The game was also launched in Germany on Jan. 17, in the presence of former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, South Korean Ambassador to Germany Jong Bum-goo, former German federal parliament member Hartmut Koschyk and Berlin Wall Foundation Director Axel Klausmeier. It is now available for the public at Seoul Citizens Hall in Jung-gu until Feb. 9.

“We observe that knowledge and interest in the partition and reunification of Germany is declining — especially among young people in Germany, who have no personal memory of the partition or of the peaceful revolution in former East Germany,” Goethe-Institute Korea Director Marla Stukenberg said during a launch ceremony at the inter-Korean transit office near Dorasan Station. “Likewise, it is the same for young Koreans here in South Korea with regard to the North. “With this game we intend to raise awareness about the division among the younger generation in particular and to convey facts about a divided Germany and a divided Korea — with all their similarities and differences. Director Stukenberg said she launched the Wallpeckers project “with a hopeful silver lining on the political horizon,” adding, “I hope that sooner or later we can add a new chapter, a new story to this game about shaping peace on the Korean Peninsula.” The ceremony drew 117 participants from Germany and South Korea.

 
Among the VIP guests were former Unification Minister Jeong, German Ambassador to Korea Stephan Auer, Nolgong co-founder Peter Lee and Arts Council Korea Chairman Park Jong-gwan. The game was a followed by a discussion between Ambassador Auer and Jeong. Jeong speculated that if the Sunshine Policy was resumed, the two Koreas may be able to co-host the Summer Olympics in 2032 as President Moon Jae-in proposed and that it would be the right timeline for North Koreans eventually to learn about Wallpeckers.

By Yi Whan-woo

(Korea Times)