As Germany prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, activists in South Korea will hold a series of events this weekend to highlight calls for similarly momentous developments leading to the liberation of North Korea.

Planned events include a mass human rights and democracy demonstration led by North Korean refugee leaders in Seoul on Saturday; an all-day national day of prayer, fasting and repentance on Sunday; and another demonstration on Monday at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, calling for the North’s liberation.

A spokesman for the organizers said from Seoul on Friday that North Korean refugee organizations, groups focusing on North Korean human rights, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were participating in the “UnifyKorea2009” events...

... Almost a year later, on Oct. 3, 1990, Germany was formally reunified.

The Korean peninsula has been divided since the end of World War II left the formerly Japanese-occupied country split at the 38th parallel between zones occupied by the Soviet Union and the United States...