The unification of North and South Korea is not imminent, despite ongoing negotiations between the two countries, a Korean studies expert said last night in a speech at William James Hall.

Before an audience of 80 people, Dae-Sook Suh, director of the University of Hawaii's center for Korean studies, provided a sobering view of the prospect of Korean unification.

"I think that the idea of Korean unification is not as good as it sounds," Suh said. "It is also very far off because though slight progress has been made in recent talks, the two Koreas are still vastly different."

Negotiations between the two nations began several years ago. In the past year, the talks have intensified, but most observers consider a settlement any time soon unlikely.

Unification is possible, Suh said, but is likely only after several changes in the conditions of the two countries.

First of all, the U.S. must remove the troopsit has stationed in South Korea, he said.

"They should be removed because South Korea candefend itself very well on its own," Suh said."North Korea's military is very inferior to thatof South Korea."

Second, Suh said, the two nations must have agreater degree of economic equality before theycan unite.

"North Korea cannot hope to competeeconomically with South Korea on its own and SouthKorea would do good to help the North develop abetter economic system," Suh said.

Finally, Suh said the two nations should becomemore ideologically similar and should be moreaccepting of each other's cultures.

"Right now, North Koreans hate South Koreansand vice versa," Suh said. "If this is notcorrected, it would be unrealistic to expect thata successful unification would be possible."

Until these measures are taken, unificationremains as unlikely as it has ever been, Suh said