[elect] Candidates Split Over Approach to North Korea

North Korean female workers make shoes in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in this file photo taken on Oct. 19, 2007, when a supervisory committee visited the complex to mark the third anniversary of its establishment. / Joint Press Corps

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Candidates from the conservative and liberal camps have called for sharply different approaches toward communist North Korea.

The three leading candidates _ Lee Myung-bak of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), Chung Dong-young of the liberal United New Democratic Party and independent Lee Hoi-chang _ share the importance for achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula through the abolishment of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

But they are split over how to achieve that goal.

Lee Myung-bak

Lee, who is regarded as a center-right politician, earlier this year unveiled campaign pledges on North Korea, aiming to achieve both the North's denuclearization and openness.

His ``Vision 3030'' policy calls for continued economic assistance to the poverty-stricken northern neighbor over the next 10 years with other countries to help the North undergo economic reform and boost the North Korean per capita national income to $3,000 by then.

Even if Lee has made it clear that the key precondition to the economic aid policy is North Korea's full denuclearization, political pundits regard his pledges as much softer than those of establishment conservatives.

The former Seoul mayor, who wants to become an ``economic president,'' also promised to adopt a conciliatory approach to sensitive issues such as the repatriation of South Korean abductees and prisoners of war (POWs) in the North.

Lee said he is willing to provide North Korea with ``enough economic compensation'' for the return of the South Koreans.

The Seoul government has been reluctant to deal with the humanitarian issue for fear of damaging inter-Korean relations.

According to a government report, about 480 South Korean citizens kidnapped by the North after the 1950-53 Korean War are thought to be alive.

The GNP standard-bearer, however, maintains a firm position on the issue of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, which Pyongyang refuses to recognize as a sea border.

Lee said the NLL should be maintained until Koreas are reunified because it is the maritime military demarcation line.

Jeong Seong-jang, a researcher of the state-run Sejong Institute think tank, said, ``Without scrapping North Korea's nuclear weapons program, nothing can be achieved whether it's a normalization between the United States and North Korea, or peace of the peninsula. In that context, Lee's North Korea policy is reasonable.''

However, Park Young-ho, a researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification, expressed concern that a policy putting the top priority on denuclearization before economic aid could possibly harm confidence-building process between the two Koreas.

Chung Dong-young

A hardcore advocate for the ``sunshine policy'' of engaging the North, Chung stresses that facilitating inter-Korean economic cooperation and resolution of North Korea's nuclear problem should be handled simultaneously.

Chung, in particular, promotes the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, an inter-Korean business park located in the North's border city of Gaeseong, as one of his major achievements. The complex was built when Chung served as unification minister between 2004 and 2005.

Chung, an anchorman-turned-politician, announced his campaign pledges calling for a triangular economic bloc connecting Haeju, Gaeseong in the North and South Korea's western port city of Incheon.

He said if elected, he will help South Korea's small- and mid-sized firms advance into North Korea to develop the country's light industry.

As part of his ``peace-focused visions,'' Chung also pledged efforts to replace the current armistice on the peninsula with a permanent peace treaty after formally ending the Korean War in about five years. He envisioned a plan to establish an inter-Korean confederation.

Chung is in favor of negotiating the NLL issue with the North, while being reluctant to address alleged human rights violations in the Stalinist state in consideration of inter-Korean relations.

Hong Gwan-hee, a researcher of the Institute for National Security Strategy, was negative about Chung's North Korea policy focused on economic aid.

``I don't believe a North Korea policy without linking to North Korea's nuclear issue or humanitarian record will be successful,'' said Hong.

Some experts, however, believe Chung's engagement policy would likely bear fruit boosted by improved cross-border ties and progress at the six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambition.

Lee Hoi-chang

Unlike Lee and Chung, who basically want to maintain a conciliatory policy toward Pyongyang, Lee Hoi-chang, an ultra-conservative independent, calls for a hardball North Korea policy based on ``strategic mutualism.''

He places top priorities on scrapping North Korea's nuclear weapons program to reduce tensions between the two militaries.

Lee, a former GNP chairman, vows to deal with sensitive issues such as North Korean economic reform, openness, repatriation of South Korean POWs and abductess in exchange for economic assistance.

A former Supreme Court judge, Lee criticizes both Lee Myung-bak and Chung for pursuing policies that eventually help the North develop nuclear weapons power rather than resolve the nuclear problem. He particularly attacks the GNP candidate for what he calls his ``ambiguous'' North Korea policy.

He pledged to reconstruct a conservative policy line through a drastic review of policies vis-a-vis the North, and by strengthening South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Some analysts say Lee's hard-line policy would be effective in rectifying problems resulting from a decade of North Korean engagement attempts by South Korea, while others are worried the hawkish policy would backpedal inter-Korean relations.

``Going back to the previous hard-line policy after discarding results that have been produced by the long-time engagement policy is not a good option,'' said Professor Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University in Seoul.

Others

Moon Kook-hyun, the candidate of the environmentally-friendly Creative Korea Party, has presented plans to build a regional economic bloc linking the two Koreas to Russia as an inducement to North Korea.

Rhee In-je, the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party, pledged to construct a special inter-Korean maritime, economic zone.

Kwon Young-ghil, the candidate of the Democratic Labor Party, calls for disbanding the Korea-U.S. alliance and putting an end to the 1950-53 Korean War by 2008. The Korean War ended in an armistice not a peace treaty.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr