On May 23 and 24, 2023, Jutta Günther, a member of the Mod-Block-DDR research network, participated in the two-day conference of the German-Korean Consultative Body at the Federal Government Commissioner for the New Länder in Berlin. The meeting of the Korean and German delegations was held at the Federal Chancellery, and the program included issues of unification policy, comparative aspects as well as the hurdles and world political dynamics.

Jutta Günther spoke on the challenge of the shortage of skilled workers in East and West Germany, which has long been a European issue as well. In addition to the structural peculiarities of the eastern German states, the question was also discussed as to whether and to what extent the "east-west" reference is still appropriate more than 30 years after unification. The conclusion was that even if the differences in development can be explained analytically and rationally from an economic point of view, they still give rise to discussion at the societal level - a fact that cannot be ignored in policy-making.