By Lee Jon-young

A world-renowned investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said on Nov. 11, "If the Military Demarcation Line (DML) is opened, I would like to invite people like the K-pop girl group Blackpink and have a big party."

After meeting with Unification Minister Kim Young-ho at the Government Complex in Sejong-ro, Seoul, later in the day, he also said, "I would also invite bands from North Korea."

"If Martians came, they would have a hard time believing (the reality of the North-South division)," he said, adding, "They would say, 'We speak the same language, we're in the same place, we use the same chopsticks, we eat the same rice, but we're a divided country, it's crazy.'" He called attention to the abnormality of the long-term division.

Chairman Rogers said, "One day there will be unification on the Korean Peninsula. If we can get rid of the demilitarized zone and open it up, then Koreans will take care of the rest."

Chairman Jim Rogers came to Korea at the invitation of the Central Committee of the Bukkwan Victory Monument National Movement, a juridical foundation, to consult on the production of a drama about General Jeong Mun-bu, who defeated the invading Japanese army during the Imjin War in 1592.

He also said in an exclusive interview with Diplomacy Journal on Dec. 10, “South Korea trades with the U.S., China and Japan. And most of those countries are going to be having problems in the next two or three years and Korea cannot escape. South Korea will follow the problems of the rest of the world.”

Chairman Rogers also said, “Chinese economy is now hitting bottom and turning around. It will do better in the next two or three years or less bad in the next two or three years. But if the world has a problem, China is also going to have a problem and suffer as the rest of the world suffers.”