The first new state boundary that was created in my GIS Crossing the Lines project was the boundary that unified North Korea and South Korea into one country. This country, Korea, is located in East Asia, and it erases the dividing line between North and South Korea. The new boundary surrounds modern day North Korea and South Korea. This proposed country borders China to the north, the Sea of Japan to the east, the Yellow Sea to the west, and the East China Sea to the south. The new boundaries for Somalia and Somaliland are different because they divide what is currently Somalia. This proposed boundary for Somaliland is north of Ethiopia, to the southeast of Djibouti, south of the Gulf of Aden, and to the west of proposed Somalia. The line dividing Somaliland from Somalia runs along the 49E, from the Gulf of Aden to latitude 9ºN, and then diagonally west along the latitude 8ºN.
The reunification of Korea would be difficult but it is still a possible event. The Korean Peninsula was first divided in 1945 into North Korea and South Korea. Since then, the governments of each country has stated they would eventually like to reunify Korea into a single state. In 2000, Each country signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration, promising to seek out a peaceful reunification. Not much progress has been made lately, but it remains a possibility in the future. Somaliland becoming independent from Somalia seems more likely to happen sooner than the reunification of Korea. In 1960, the independent state of Somaliland voluntarily joined with Somalia to create the Republic of Somalia. Somaliland technically declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after a major government problem but continues to lack international recognition. Somaliland has their own government and faithful citizens so it is only a matter of time before they begin to get international recognition as an independent state.
The new boundary for Korea would be based off existing boundaries, cultural boundaries, and physical boundaries. The existing boundaries would be the boundary that is currently between North Korea and China. The cultural boundary would be the division of the Korean nation, from the Chines nation. The physical boundaries involved would be the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. The new boundaries dividing Somaliland from Somalia is a geometric boundary. The geometric line is drawn dividing Somaliland from the Puntland region of Somalia. The boundaries separating Somaliland and Somalia from other surrounding countries are also geometric boundaries. The last type of boundary is the physical boundary of the Indian Ocean for Somalia, and the Gulf of Aden for Somaliland.
The new boundaries for Korea could be a potential problem for the people living inside them. Over the time North and South Korea has been separated, the two countries along with their citizens have become less like each other. This factor could lead to possible ethnocultural devolutionary movements. Combining North and South Korea could result it economic benefits which would be a good centripetal force. The proposed country is fairly elongated which could be a potential centrifugal force and lead to spatial devolutionary movements. These new boundaries between Somaliland and Somalia would make the people of Somaliland very happy. Many years after declaring independence, they finally receive international recognition, they would be very happy. They new state of Somaliland would be compact which is a centripetal force and the most advantageous form of territorial morphology. The new state of Somalia would be elongated and have potential risk of devolutionary movements from Puntland in the Northeast because of its spatial separation.
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