By Lee Tae-hoon
President Lee Myung-bak hinted Thursday that he was willing to pursue an engagement policy with North Korea once Pyongyang restores stability following the death of its iron-fisted leader Kim Jong-il.
He said Seoul is trying to show the communist North that it has no hostility toward it, noting that early stabilization of Pyongyang is in the national interest.
“There is plenty of room to introduce flexibility for inter-Korean policies once North Korean society regains stability,” Lee said during a meeting with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, according to senior presidential secretary for public relations Choe Guem-nak.
“The measures we have taken so far are basically aimed at showing North Korea we are not hostile toward the North.”
Seoul issued a statement Tuesday that expressed sympathy to the people of North Korea, saying it hopes the Stalinist regime will quickly regain stability and the two Koreas work together for peace and prosperity on the peninsula.
Observers say the expression of sympathy can be seen as an effort to reach out to Pyongyang for new relations.
A senior Cheong Wa Dae official, however, pointed out that the North must demonstrate its sincerity to dismantle its nuclear weapons program first to bring about a positive change in inter-Korean relations.
“Denuclearizing North Korea remains firm as the government’s policy objective,” he said.
He also downplayed concerns that China has been uncooperative with Seoul government since Kim’s death, saying Chinese leaders are not accustomed to talking to heads of other states over the phone.
“It is customary to send envoys rather than using hotlines,” the official explained.
During the meeting, President Lee also noted that Chinese President Hu Jintao has not spoken with any other leaders over the death of Kim.
“China instead offered to have a phone conversation between foreign ministers, and they did. Regarding North Korea, we have good communications with China,” he said.
Rep. Park Geun-hye, interim leader of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), praised the government’s handling of the situation in a calm and orderly manner.
"It appears people feel at ease as the President responded in a prudent and balanced way to the unforeseen situation," she said.
Rep. Won Hye-young, a co-leader of the main opposition Democratic Unity Party, also positively assessed the government’s measures after Kim’s demise, saying “the government responded appropriately."
Meanwhile, President Lee said the country’s intelligence gathering capability was not as seriously compromised as many feared in the meeting.
However, he refrained from mentioning any details of intelligence that the government allegedly collected despite growing criticism that the lack of skilled human agents in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) led to a failure to predict Kim’s death.
Won Sei-hoon, head of the NIS, and Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin admitted Tuesday that they were completely unaware of the authoritarian leader’s death until the North Korean media made an announcement two days later.
“It is true that I learned of Kim Jong-il’s death after North Korea made the announcement. But it should be noted that all other countries in the world were also kept in dark over it,” Lee was quoted as saying.
“We have some intelligence. It might be used to counter wrongful accusations but I’d better not talk about it.”
Lee added that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda showed Japan’s interests in pushing a bilateral exchange and sharing of information about North Korea during a summit on Dec. 18.