Germany news: Merz calls for Korean reunification at DMZ

Chancellor Friedrich Merz visits the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea

Merz draws on Germany's own reunification experience, saying division causes suffering

Here are the leading headlines from and about Germany on Friday, October 30:

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday visited the Panmunjom truce village at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, briefly standing on the North Korean side inside the barracks.

North and South Korea have been divided since the end of hostilities in the Korean War in 1953, with a border running across the peninsula.

In remarks to reporters, Merz recalled Germany's reunification 36 years ago.

"Let us hope that Korea too gets the chance one day to regain state unity," he said.

"You can also notice it here at this place, how much a country suffers from division and how strong the desire is for reunification, at least in this part of the Korean Peninsula," he said, adding that he had been asked about Germany's reunification experience while visiting Seoul.

North Korea, however, has backed away in recent years from diplomacy with the South, having officially removed language calling for reunification from its constitution while changing the South's status to that of a "hostile state."

A glass cabinet containing memorabilia linked to the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, in which eight Manchester United footballers lost their lives, was smashed and plundered in the Munich suburb of Trudering this week.

The display case on Manchesterplatz forms part of a memorial commemorating the tragedy which occurred when the United team made a refueling stop in Munich while on the way back from a European Cup game in Belgrade, Serbia, on February 6, 1958.

The plane struggled to take off again in the wintery conditions at the old Munich-Riem airport to the east of the city center and, on the third attempt, ploughed off the end of the runway and into a house. Of the 44 people on board, 23 were killed, including eight United players, several journalists and two crew members.

The crash site has become a place of pilgrimage for United supporters and, in 2020, the cabinet was installed on the initiative of the Red Docs Munich – a local Bayern Munich fan club – to house the various memorabilia and tributes left by visitors.

Munich police said the cabinet was broken into on Monday morning between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time (07:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. UTC), with the unknown perpetrators making off with a glass sculpture and several medals.

"They don't understand the damage that they've caused," Ifty Ahmed, chairman of the Manchester Munich Memorial Foundation (MMMF), told the BBC, adding: "Whatever they've taken from inside the showcase, they haven't taken our memories."

The Red Docs Munich arranged for replacement glass to be installed on the same say. The MMMF said Manchester United had offered to pay for the repairs but said the foundation had covered the costs itself.

The joint commemoration of the 1958 disaster and the maintenance of the memorial site has produced extensive and friendly relations between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, who will meet in the Champions League in January.

German politicians have been slow to respond as they wait to see who is likely to comprise the next coalition. Many are also hoping for a government without religious hardliners.

Profits of German luxury car brand Audi for the third quarter came plunged 87% year-on-year to €95 million ($106 million), the Volkswagen subsidiary reported on Friday. This is a drop from €718 million seen in the same quarter last year.

The drop comes amid weak demand in China, and US tariffs.

"Market and competitive conditions have become significantly more difficult in the third quarter," Audi chief financial officer Jürgen Rittersberger told journalists on a call.

"That all shows that we need to intensify measures and set clear priorities," he added.

Overall in the first nine months of 2026, Audi's profits have dropped 41% to €1.22 billion.

The carmaker trimmed its 2026 profit outlook down to 3 to 5% for the year, down from the previous 5 to 7%.

Audi's sluggish numbers represent more bad news for the 10-brand Volkswagen Group, which on Thursday reported its largest quarterly loss in more than a ‌decade, at nearly €6 billion.

A ban on new Stolpersteine ("stumbling stones") to commemorate victims of the Holocaust in the eastern German town of Heidenau will be upheld after five petitions against the measure were thrown out.

Local councilors from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) voted together in September to pass the controversial ban on new stones being laid in the town in Saxony, near Dresden.

Petitions against the measure were submitted from across Germany — as well as one from the Netherlands — calling for victims of the Nazi regime to continue to be remembered in Heidenau by way of the small metal plaques embedded in pavements.

"Not everybody has to like the stumbling stones but everyone should have the possibility to lay one in public," one councilor, Michael Schürer, told Germany's Catholic News Agency (KNA), criticizing the rejection of the petitions.

The initiators of the Heidenau ban had argued that, while remembering Holocaust victims remains essential, the placement of Stolpersteine leads to "passersby walking over or even stepping onto the names of the victims." They suggested honoring victims at a local cemetery instead.

The decision of the local Heidenau CDU to join forces with the AfD to pass the motion sparked a nationwide scandal and furthered the debate over the conservatives' commitment to the political "firewall" against the far right.

Ahead of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier lauded China's role as a global technological and economic power, while emphasizing the responsibility that comes along with it.

"We both bear responsibility for the ⁠international order ​and for the conditions under which states in this world maintain and shape their relations," Steinmeier said.

President Xi praised what he called an "all-dimensional strategic partnership" between China and Germany, calling for new cooperation based on stability and mutual benefit.

"This new paradigm sends a positive signal to the world: we favor openness over closure, and cooperation over confrontation," Xi said during opening remarks, emphasizing the start of a "new chapter" in Germany-China ties.

Xi added that he hopes Germany and the European Union will stick by a "rational, pragmatic and friendly" China policy, adding that cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences in China-EU relations.

The EU has a massive trade deficit with China, which reached €360 billion ($400.4 billion) last year and is set to exceed that level this year.

Brussels has accused China of unfair economic practices, saying its state subsidies for its industries are creating an unlevel playing field. Germany with its export based economy, the EU's largest, is hit hard by China's manufacturing surplus flooding global markets.

Industry groups say the surge in imports from China is leading to an increasing number of factory closures in the bloc.

Nonetheless, "differences and problems can always be resolved," the Chinese president said.

On October 30, 1961, West Germany and Turkey signed an agreement allowing the temporary recruitment of workers. Sixty-five years on, many so-called "guest workers" cannot live from their pensions.

Learn more about how "guest workers" are struggling as they reach retirement age in this in depth report by Oliver Pieper.

While German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in South Korea on Friday called for a better rule-based trade order, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in the Chinese capital in a bid to smooth out trade disagreements.

In Beijing, Steinmeier called for preserving the "win-win principle" characterizing Sino-German relations, borrowing from the expression "win-win cooperation," one of the most frequently used phrases in Chinese foreign policy statements.

Germany's economic ties with China have gone through a shock in recent years, with Chinese manufacturing growing into sectors once dominated by German firms, and Chinese electric cars taking over market share.

At the start of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Steinmeier cited a recent deal limiting exports of Chinese hybrid cars to the EU in exchange for select tariff cuts on EU exports to China as an example of a "a way to find solutions."

Steinmeier also brought up Germany's growing trade deficit with China, which grew to nearly €90 billion ($100 billion) last year.

Germany has long resisted tougher action against China, fearing retaliation. But rising pressure on key industries has pushed Berlin to seek stronger EU trade-defense powers to protect its industrial base.

Steinmeier said Germany would work to solve trade problems with China. "We are coming with the intention of maintaining and strengthening the framework for good economic exchange between our two countries," Steinmeier said.

Later in the day, the German president, who occupies a largely ceremonial role without policymaking power, was also recieved by an honor guard alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During his final day of a whirlwind Asia tour this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business in Seoul on Friday that Germany and Europe are ready to cooperate with Asian economies to foster a rules-based economic order.

Merz said the European Union is ready to take the lead in shaping a better deal for countries in Asia feeling the pressure of a destabilized rules-based trade order.

"Competition between the US and China is ramping up. Tariffs, technological decoupling strategies and a tough race for critical raw materials and new technologies are fundamentally changing the rules of our global economy," Merz said.

"These conflicts and systemic shifts in power patterns concern us all. They particularly concern economically aspiring partners in the Indo-Pacific, as well as in Germany and in Europe."

During stops in Singapore and Japan this week, Merz pushed for free trade partnerships and greater European cooperation with Asian economies.

In Singapore on Wednesday, Merz called for a free trade agreement between the EU and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a sweeping multilateral free trade agreement connecting the Asia Pacific and the Americas.

The UK is the single European signatory, albeit outside of the EU bloc. The US pulled out during the first administration President Donald Trump in 2017, scuttling the original version, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"We want to offer opportunities beyond bilateral agreements,"he said in Seoul on Friday.

"We are resolutely joining forces against unilateralism, autocratic power politics and violations of international law," Merz added.

"When supply chains become political pawns, when access to key technologies is obstructed or when efforts to secure raw materials resemble displays of power rather than fair partnerships, this jeopardizes growth, prosperity and ultimately the security of entire regions."

Merz also tried to allay concerns about EU protectionism under the "Made in Europe" scheme intended to protect carmakers.

"There is a fear that we might be facing ‌a new wave of European protectionism - that we are closing ‌ourselves off from other nations," ‌Merz said.

"I take these concerns very seriously. I will carry them back not just to Berlin, ‌but also to Brussels, and I will certainly raise the fact that these concerns were expressed to me quite forcefully here," he added.

Citing Germany as an example, South Korean Prime Minister Han Seong Sook told the conference "German companies are using Korea as a central hub to expand their presence in the Asia-Pacific region."

The question of who should become Germany's new president is becoming pressing.

Many want to see Germany's first female head of state. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is keeping his cards close to his chest.

Read DW's full report on who may be the next German president.

Good morning from the DW newsroom in Bonn.

Germany's chancellor and president were both in Asia this week, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling for more robust trade ties with middle powers and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier focusing on diplomacy during a multi-day visit to China.

On Friday, Merz spoke at a German-South Korean business conference in Seoul, while Steinmeier is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Keep reading for the latest updates from Germany.