Are conservatives shifting toward NK engagement?

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, left, shakes hands with Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik during their meeting in Seoul, Wednesday.

/ Yonhap

By Kim Young-jin

An ongoing effort by Seoul’s progressive mayor to engage North Korea through cultural activities with the city of Pyongyang is raising eyebrows as the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration has apparently reacted positively to the proposal.

The interest in the plan, which involves the Seoul city orchestra playing in the North Korean capital, appears to reflect the conservative camp’s keen awareness of growing public sentiment toward engagement with the North ahead of the parliamentary election in April, observers say.

This comes after Mayor Park Won-soon, an independent poised to join the main opposition Democratic United Party, met with Unification Minister and Lee’s close confidant Yu Woo-ik Wednesday to discuss the exchange program.

Park, seeking government permission before discussing details with the North, said Yu “reacted positively” during the talks. Under the plan, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra would perform in Pyongyang, which could lead to an inter-Korean football match.

The reaction also comes as the nation gauges how to approach Pyongyang in the aftermath of late ruler Kim Jong-il’s death in December.

“There has been a surge of opinion favoring inter-Korean exchange and dialogue in the wake of Kim Jong-il’s death,” said Bong Young-shik, an analyst with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies (AIPS) in Seoul.

“With the parliamentary election approaching, parties are pandering to constituents’ demands. This could explain the conservative and progressive parties coming together on this.”

Tension has been high between the sides since the Lee administration rolled back a decade of engagement and linked provision of aid to denuclearization steps by the North. With consensus emerging that the strict policy had factored into the North’s two deadly provocations in 2010, Lee last year tapped Yu to replace hardliner Hyun In-taek as point man on cross-border ties and implement a more “flexible” stance.

While Yu so far has been unable to significantly increase cross-border engagement, analysts say he has been hampered by events such as autocrat Kim’s death.

Polling data from AIPS shows 55.6 percent of respondents disapprove of Lee’s policy compared to some 29 percent who favor it. Among them, those in their 20s, 30s and 40s showed the clearest distaste for it coinciding with the age group that propelled Park into City Hall last year.

The data also showed a significant increase in respondents favoring an engagement policy before and after Kim’s death, with the number jumping from 41.6 to 50.6 percent.

The ruling Saenuri Party, formerly the Grand National Party, is playing catch-up when it comes to how to deal with Pyongyang. Nearly 42 percent believe the DUP is the most capable party to manage inter-Korean relations compared to 31.3 percent who said Saenuri was more capable.

Meanwhile, Chung Myung-whun, the conductor of the metropolitan orchestra, said Wednesday prospects for the performance in Pyongyang were rosy, adding there would be “good news” regarding the plan soon.

In September, Chung made a rare visit to the North on which he agreed with musicians there to hold regular joint performances between the sides.

Park has also been pushing for a reprisal for the "Gyeong-Pyong” soccer match between the two capital cities, an event that stretches back to the 1910-45 Japanese occupation in a bid to ease tensions. “Gyeong” is short for Gyeongseong, the old name for Seoul.

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