GNP Tackles Summit Factor
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The conservative Grand National Party (GNP) is seeking ways to prevent possible negative political fallout from the upcoming inter-Korean summit on the presidential election slated for Dec. 19, sources said Wednesday.
The party laid out options for engagement with North Korea.
Rep. Chung Hyung-keun of the party, a vocal critic of the government's engagement policy with the North, is said to have initiated a drive to increase humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
Chung drafted a bill to enable the government to spend 1 percent of the nation's budget for humanitarian aid to North Korea.
The level of aide is almost five times higher than current humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
As lawmakers of the pro-government, United New Democratic Party (UNDP) considered it ``a very positive move,'' the bill will likely pass during a National Assembly session, according to the sources.
Besides the economic incentive, the sources said the party attempts to build relations with North Korea through personal contacts.
Rep. Choung Byoung-gug, an aide to presidential nominee Lee Myung-bak, said he met a high-level North Korean official in late August in Beijing, China.
The lawmaker explained Lee's vision for North Korea to the unnamed North Korean official.
But Choung dismissed speculation that party Chairman Kang Jae-sup sent him to Beijing for face-to-face contact with North Korean officials, calling it ``no more than second-guessing.''
He said cultural exchanges between the South and North were discussed with the North Korean official.
Rhee Tshang-chu, chief executive officer of Korean Global Foundation (KGF), said in an interview that Pyongyang does not rule out the possibility of the GNP candidate winning the presidential election.
``I heard from officials from the North that they see the possibility that the GNP nominee might win the crucial election. They said Pyongyang is preparing for the possible change of government in the South,'' he said.
Rhee explained the North Korean officials are fully aware that the role of President Roh Moo-hyun in the inter-Korean cooperation is limited as his term expires next February.
According to Rhee, North Korean officials made it clear that no political consideration was made in the delaying the inter-Korean summit to Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.