This study suggests a management plan of temporary separation in the area of labor and social welfare from a medium- to long-term viewpoint in order to minimize socioeconomic impact after reunification of Korea. This suggestion should be analyzed within the two frameworks of economic policy and social policy. In particular, research on the integration of institutionalized systems bears a direct relation to the establishment of future macro-level policies at the national level. Studies on reunification conducted up to recently have been limited mainly to the micro-debate about defectors from North Korea. Therefore, they are limited in analyzing the current system and suggesting future directions in the wider area of ??social policy. Concerning these limitations, this study compares the current situation of the labor market and social welfare system in North and South Korea, critically examines the contents of social policies carried out in the past by the unified Germany, and applies this to North and South Korea in the areas of poverty, unemployment, and populace migration, which have been identified as the main tasks to address during the process of unification.
  Following a collapse of the regime, the core of North and South Korean labor and social policies would lie in dealing with the issues of extreme poverty, unemployment, and rapid migration of the population from the North Korean region. In particular, the problems of poverty and unemployment during the process of unification can have a considerable impact on the scale and nature of future migration. Migration during the unification stage can be largely classified into the phases of “migration under normal circumstances” prior to reunification, “drastic increase in migration” during reunification and “conditional migration” after reunification. Of the three phases, this study focuses on “drastic increase in migration.” Especially, through an intensive examination of the possibility of temporary segregation, this study attempts to divide the population movement into that from the North Korean region and that from other areas, such as ethnic Koreans living in China (Chosun-jok), thus deviating from a single unified policy. Through this, the study will suggest measures to mitigate the impact of sudden migration through temporary separation of North and South Korea.
  Since the unification of Germany, the integration of labor and social security has been implemented through the method of applying the West German system on East Germany, and guaranteeing living standards in the former Eastern area has prevented the rapid migration of the East German people. However, during this process, there was a surge in fiscal expenditures, which led to financial burdens and unemployment for later generations. The trend of migration by the German population shows that the migration of East German residents to West Germany decreased, while the migration of residents of other countries such as Eastern Europe continued to increase. At the time, the migration policy was set on a “cost-intensive” course on the premise that Germany could afford the costs of unification. However, such an approach would have to be carefully deliberated before being applied to North and South Korea because of the huge cost burden and possibility of social confusion ensuing. In other words, Germany intended to improve the living standards of the people in East German area in a relatively short period of time after unification, and chose an integration plan where the financial resources relied solely on the economic power of West Germany. In the case of Korea, it is suggested that there would be considerable difficulty in adopting the German approach because of limitations in financing capabilities. Therefore, it will be necessary to consider various possibilities when concerning the direction of policy. 
  The most serious problem in North Korea after unification will be mass unemployment. Concerning income assurance policy, it is desirable to adopt unemployment allowance that includes an activation policy, with the principle of “wide coverage, moderate benefit level” rather than the immediate introduction of the employment insurance system of South Korea. At the beginning of the transition, the government's direct job creation policy needs to concentrate on the creation of massive employment in the field of public works and social services, taking lessons from Korea's experience. It will be necessary to introduce the principle of proportional wages, based on calculations of real purchasing power, in order to instill confidence that living in the North Korean region is possible. The minimum wage system should also be set as the average wage or at a certain proportion of the median wage, based on the principle of proportional wages.
  The basic direction of social policy after unification is to make poverty and unemployment a top priority of policy. It will be necessary to reduce the financial burden of unification as much as possible and to provide policy alternatives to minimize dissatisfaction among North Korean residents and alleviate large-scale migrations to South Korea. This goes along with the necessity of establishing a social security system as an additional and complementary measure to various economic policies. Allocating a low level of financial burden for the North Korean region would lead to large-scale migration, while an increase in the level of burden is likely to cause discontent among South Koreans. Therefore, it is necessary to precede the process of defining the object of temporary separation more clearly, such as strictly blocking migration from the North to the South through physical measures.
  In the end, in order to contain the migration from North Korea to South Korea, policy measures should be taken to create economic conditions advantageous for people when staying in North Korea. Acknowledging the regional disparities of the two Koreas that will appear after unification, measures to reduce the gap, such as large-scale investment, investment from domestic and foreign companies through tax exemptions and SOC business expansions, have to be taken to absorb the labor force and allow the population to become economically self-sufficient. Social confusion could be minimized by establishing the principle of “get hired, then move,”  rather than allowing job-seekers to relocate before being hired when it comes to migration from North Korea to South Korea
  The basic plan for social integration of North and South Korea consists of the following three phases: the “emergency transition period,” “institutional integration period,” and “institutional settlement period.” In the “emergency transition period” where transient emergency measures are taken, the aim is to guarantee the basic standard of living in the chaotic period directly following reunification. This phase concentrates on establishing basic security levels through current systems, in-kind benefits and maintenance of the existing benefit level. In the “institutional integration period” which will mainly aim at the integration of the two Koreas, integration of social security systems based on the market economy and implementation of transitional measures to reduce institutional confusion will take place. The “institutional settlement period” will finally establish this integrated system to operate a homogeneous and united social security system for the unified Korea.
  In the case of public pension, the temporary separation plan is not to adopt the South Korean system in the North Korean region but rather to apply it gradually step by step by applying transitional types of benefits and gradually phasing in certain condition levels. In the case of health insurance, the plan also suggests the introduction and operation of a temporary separation plan by establishing healthcare infrastructure in the North Korean region and temporarily exempting out-of-pocket payments with consideration of the national healthcare system in North Korea to mitigate the impact. 
  In terms of social integration, the integration of labor and social welfare needs to be approached not simply based on the logic of power but from the standpoint of achieving mutual harmony in growth and distribution. In particular, the migration policy should reach a proper balance between various economic incentives and social policies to prevent massive migration from North Korea and to temporarily block the inflow from outside of North Korea to the Korean peninsula. Finally, approaches to institutional integration need to be more concrete in regard to viable options. This means to apply the South Korean system in a manner that reproduces the introduction, settlement, expansion and maturity stages of the South Korean system. Through these detailed discussions, we hope to contribute to the designing of policies related to reunification based on flexibility and rationality.