system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If North and South Korea were reunified today, what would it do to the population of North Korea?

The closest similar situation I can think of is Germany's reunification, but it is a different case, given that Germany didn't fight a war against itself and that it was essentially a colony of the USSR. North Korea is an independent nation that carefully cultivates an insular ideology, and has - at least I get the impression - a population that is more loyal to that ideology than was the case in East Germany. However, even in Germany, you can still tell the difference economically between East and West, especially in Berlin. Still, Germany is doing well as a unified state. Would the same be the case in Korea or would the other factors I mentioned make a difference? Would North Koreans be able to handle a drastic ideological shift? What would happen? 

If I'm in the wrong subreddit, my apologies in advance. This one seemed like a good place to get a good answer. :)
gpt
The difference between East and West Germany and North and South Korea though is that East Germany had a significantly smaller relative population than West Germany as compared to the Koreas, and that the economic disparity between the two countries is much, much smaller.

>**East Germany**:
Population  in 1990: 16,111,000,
GDP Per Capita in 1990: $9,679

>**West Germany**:
Population in 1990: 62,168,000,
GDP Per Capita in 1990: $15,300

>**North Korea**:
Population in 2011: 24,554,000,
GDP Per Capita in 2011: $1,800

>**South Korea**:
Population in 2012: 50,004,000,
GDP Per Capita in 2012: $32,272

East Germany had about a quarter the population that the West had, but was able to keep up with standards of living, mostly because the East German government was relatively better managed and more forward-thinking than that of North Korea. German reunification went smoothly because the people of East Germany did not live in decrepit conditions, and because there wasn't a whole lot of them compared to the West.

In contrast, North Korea's population is about half of that of South Korea, and their living conditions are much, much worse. The reunification of North and South Korea has the potential to be the greatest economic disaster to ever face the South, assuming that they would be held to pay for it. Such a thing, when not handled right, would also throw global markets into a stir, especially in Asia. Fortunately, North Koreans are for the most part employable, and aren't lacking in manufacturing and IT skills. The biggest problem would be faced by how the countries are reunited, and whether or not the collapse of the North Korean government came from a state of war or an internal collapse.

EDIT: Sources via Wikipedia, search the pages for each country if you feel you must.