By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Conservative President Lee Myung-bak Friday proposed resumption of inter-Korean talks on ways to implement summit accords made by his predecessors, and offered to help reduce the Communist country's acute food shortage.
His proposal for dialogue on the summit pacts is a major U-turn from his initial hawkish North Korea policy, which triggered angry response from Pyongyang. North Korea openly described him as a ``traitor'' and U.S. ``sycophant.''
The President made the proposal hours after a North Korean soldier shot and killed a 53-year-old Korean tourist when she was strolling at a beach near the restricted military area near Mt. Geumgang.
In his speech at the National Assembly, Lee said he is ready to discuss ways of making progress in the agreements signed between South and North Korean leaders that include the Basic Agreement of 1991, the June 15 Declaration of 2000 and the Oct. 4 Declaration of 2007.
Lee had taken a tough line on the North since taking office in late February, saying that he would review previous summit accords to see if they were worth implementing, angering North Korea.
``The South Korean government is willing to engage in serious consultations on how to implement the inter-Korean accords and agreements made so far,'' he said.
Pyongyang has not responded yet.
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) said Lee put forth a win-win solution to the South-North relations which have shown few signs of improving in recent months.
But lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized President Lee for failing to express regrets in his speech over the shooting of a South Korean tourist to Mount Geumgang in North Korea.
The President learned of the killing shortly after noon, before leaving for the Assembly, according to his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) declined to give rush comments on the proposal, saying that its policy committee would make detailed comments on the President's speech later.
Lee's remarks showed that his stance on the agreements, particularly the two declarations signed at the end of summit talks in 2000 and 2006, has changed.
In March, Lee said the 1991 agreement is more important than the two declarations made in the two rounds of summit talks.
Lee also softened his stance on Pyongyang as he said that the government was willing to work together with North Korea in humanitarian issues to help ease food shortages.
``I propose engaging in inter-Korean humanitarian cooperation. From a humanitarian and fraternal standpoint, the government is ready to cooperate in efforts to help relieve the food shortage in the North as well as alleviate the pain of the North Korean people,'' Lee said.
The President put forward that ``a new thinking and a new direction'' guide South-North relations and the two sides should march toward an ``age of implementation'' from an ``age of declarations,'' pledging he would carry out unification policies keeping all these things in mind.
Lee said he learned valuable lessons form the controversy over U.S. beef, saying that he was reminded that government policies can succeed only when they have the backing of the public.
``No matter how much time it may have taken, I was taught that it is paramount to carefully listen to what the public wants. It also reaffirmed my commitment to uphold, at the same time, the principle of the rule of law and maintain social order,'' he said.
Lee stressed that the nation should guard against so-called ``infodemics,'' a term referring to a phenomenon in which inaccurate, false information is disseminated, prompting social unrest that spreads like an epidemic.
``An advanced society is characterized by the dominance of rationality and civic virtues. A society rampant with excessive emotional behavior, disorderliness and rudeness cannot be called an advanced society by any measure,'' Lee said.