The woman from North Korea was following the standard party line. "All Koreans all over the world dream of and are working toward unification," she told me as we chatted in Pyongyang three years ago. "Actually, I hate to tell you this," I cautiously replied, "but I've spent some time in the Village Down There," borrowing a euphemism Northerners use for South Korea. "Young people have largely lost interest in unification. They see the Koreas as two separate countries and don't think it's necessary to rejoin."
It was, I think, the first time she'd heard such an idea. She stuttered and changed the subject.
The long-lasting effect of the Winter Olympics getting underway in South Korea may bring that message home to her compatriots in the North — and those on the South Korean left. Pyongyang's charm offensives on the South will no longer work; younger South Koreans just don't care that much about unification.