Comments on ineffective unification policy made at the Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium

Three Unification Ministers from the administrations of former South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun appeared together to roundly criticize the reunification policy of current president Park Geun-hye. The former ministers also underscored the necessity of moving quickly to establish peace on the Korean peninsula and of starting a process of reunification based on economic cooperation.

The three figures spoke at the Unification Talk Show, which was jointly organized by Korea Peace Forum and Autonomy 21. The event was held in the auditorium at the office of Gukje Shinmun in the Yeonje District of Busan on the evening of Nov. 19, with around 100 people in the audience, as part of the Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium.

At the event, Jeong Se-hyun, President of Wonkwang University, who served as Unification Minister from 2002-2004, during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun, declared that the North Korean policy of the Park administration lacks methodology.

Jeong tackled the question of why inter-Korean relations remain so strained almost two years into the Park administration. “Park has a lot of good things to say, like the Trust-Building Process on the Korean Peninsula, the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative, and the Eurasian Initiative, but there is an order for proceeding with these projects. If she makes a lot of grandiose statements while asking North Korea to take action first or to show its sincerity, nothing will happen,” he said.

“If we don’t make progress on inter-Korean relations, we will have trouble with our relations with the US and China as well. The first button has to go in the right hole, but we don’t know where the button is, what the button is, or what the hole is,” Jeong added.

Lee Jong-seok, currently co-chair of the Korea Peace Forum and Unification Minister in 2006, during the administration of Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008), argued that the South Korean government’s position that North Korea must make an apology before the May 24 measures can be lifted is unrealistic. “Based on our experience, has there ever been a time when North Korea has apologized for something that it denies having done for four and a half years? It won’t happen in the future, either,” Lee said.

“If the May 24 Measures are not lifted, the scope for improvement of inter-Korean relations is extremely limited. With large-scale humanitarian aid and economic cooperation both cut off, we should not expect military tensions to ease,” Lee said.

These former Unification Ministers questioned the assumption that the North Korean nuclear issue is holding back the improvement of inter-Korean relations.

“While it is true that North Korea has nuclear weapons, it cannot use these as offensive weapons. That would bring about the North’s self-destruction. North Korea intends to use its nuclear weapons as a deterrent against pressure from the outside and as leverage in negotiations. It can also use them as blackmail against those who are afraid of those weapons. We must not be afraid,” said Lim Dong-won, president of the Korea Peace Forum. Lim was Unification Minister in 2001, in the administration of former president Kim Dae-jung.

These three former Unification Ministers were in agreement that reunification must be based on economic cooperation. “In addition to the existing special economic zones, North Korea has set up 13 regional economic development areas to attract foreign investment. We need to more quickly adopt an economic approach. Participating in the development of the North Korean economy is not only in our mutual interest but also the way to reduce the cost of unification,” Lim said.

Jeong voiced his agreement, giving as an example an anecdote from when he was the Blue House Unification Secretary during the administration of Kim Young-sam in 1994. At the time, Jeong was preparing for an inter-Korean summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Il-sung.

“At the time, the basic approach of the advisors was to buy security by giving money to the North. We decided to not even respond to any talk about removing the US military or unifying under a federal system but to just say that we would help,” Jeong recalled.

Jeong explained that the basic strategy was to help North Korea, provided that it pulled its long-range artillery - which pose the greatest threat to South Korea - back from the DMZ.

Lim also made some comments about the volatile political environment in Northeast Asia. “We are moving toward a time in which Northeast Asia is jointly managed through the cooperation and competition of the US and China. In order to ensure that Korea does not become an excuse for conflict and division between the US and China, we must hurry to bring peace to the Korean peninsula,” he said. As a solution for this, Lim suggested that North and South Korea could initiate four-party peace talks with the US and China.

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter in Busan

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/66556.html