North Korea is likely to watch South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye with caution as it tries to decide how to react to the new conservative leader, experts in Seoul said Thursday.
Park, the 60-year-old standard bearer of the ruling Saenuri Party, won Wednesday's election with just over 51 percent of the vote in a tightly contested race against Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party.
North Korea has not issued any formal response to Park's victory, although the communist nation blasted the conservative contender over her North Korea policy plans during the campaign. The country made no comment on the liberal Moon.
The president-elect has vowed to seek improved ties with the North without compromising the South's national security or sovereignty. Her pledges came amid soured inter-Korean relations that resulted from the outgoing Lee Myung-bak government's hardline stance toward the North.
"Rather than attacking Park, it looks like North Korea will first explore her policies on the North," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
The communist nation could also demand the conservative leader clarify her position on two joint declarations adopted by her liberal predecessors -- Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun -- during their 2000 and 2007 summit meetings with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the professor added.
The declarations call on the two Koreas to actively pursue cooperation in a wide range of fields such as the economy, politics and culture.
Park also met with North Korea's Kim in Pyongyang in 2002 in her capacity as leader of a splinter opposition party, and the two discussed ways to bring peace to the divided Korean Peninsula.
Still, some said the North could take an aggressive stance in a bid to soften Park's policy.
"North Korea is likely to pressure the Park administration to make a choice between confrontation and dialogue with the North," said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Korea University. "It will also probably put forth its own position and then engage in a kind of mental battle with Park by demanding she show her differences from the Lee Myung-bak administration."
Tension persists on the Korean Peninsula following the North's deadly attacks on a South Korean warship and a southern border island in 2010. Pyongyang also launched a long-range rocket last week in violation of United Nations resolutions banning the country from testing ballistic missile technology.
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
Park, the 60-year-old standard bearer of the ruling Saenuri Party, won Wednesday's election with just over 51 percent of the vote in a tightly contested race against Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party.
North Korea has not issued any formal response to Park's victory, although the communist nation blasted the conservative contender over her North Korea policy plans during the campaign. The country made no comment on the liberal Moon.
The president-elect has vowed to seek improved ties with the North without compromising the South's national security or sovereignty. Her pledges came amid soured inter-Korean relations that resulted from the outgoing Lee Myung-bak government's hardline stance toward the North.
"Rather than attacking Park, it looks like North Korea will first explore her policies on the North," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
The communist nation could also demand the conservative leader clarify her position on two joint declarations adopted by her liberal predecessors -- Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun -- during their 2000 and 2007 summit meetings with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the professor added.
The declarations call on the two Koreas to actively pursue cooperation in a wide range of fields such as the economy, politics and culture.
Park also met with North Korea's Kim in Pyongyang in 2002 in her capacity as leader of a splinter opposition party, and the two discussed ways to bring peace to the divided Korean Peninsula.
Still, some said the North could take an aggressive stance in a bid to soften Park's policy.
"North Korea is likely to pressure the Park administration to make a choice between confrontation and dialogue with the North," said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Korea University. "It will also probably put forth its own position and then engage in a kind of mental battle with Park by demanding she show her differences from the Lee Myung-bak administration."
Tension persists on the Korean Peninsula following the North's deadly attacks on a South Korean warship and a southern border island in 2010. Pyongyang also launched a long-range rocket last week in violation of United Nations resolutions banning the country from testing ballistic missile technology.
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
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