The fall of the Berlin Wall, the ensuing collapse of the eastern block in 1989‐91, and the unification of Germany in October 1990 all had a significant impact on North and South Korea, albeit in different ways. For South Koreans the event of the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized also the collapse of apparently real‐existing socialism. Over the long‐term view it symbolized positively the unification of Germany too. These world historical – not only European – changes made Koreans on either side of the divided peninsula very conscious of the challenging task of attempting the unification of their divided country. In the South impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification was to help the success of the North Korean policy of the Roh Tae‐woo government. However, Roh aimed to monopolize the unification policy for the benefit of his own regime. He either excluded or controlled the citizens’ unification movement. In practice his policy was not realized in true exchanges and cooperation between the South and the North, even though his “Northern Policy” had the West German Ostpolitik as its reference. But Roh’s Northern Policy aimed to put pressure on North Korea through the improvement of relations with the Soviet Union, China, and other eastern block countries. For the most part Kim Dae‐jung inherited the Northern Policy of Roh. However, Kim emphasized civil participation in the unification movement and the need to try to engage the North in constructive dialogue. He stressed that the two Koreas must avoid any rapid moves towards unification absorbed, as he was, with the differences between German and Korean situations.