`Peace Will Help Koreas Attain Economic Development
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Presidential candidate Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) has stressed economic development for the two Koreas by establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula, as his flagship campaign pledge.
Under the catchphrase of ``Economic Boost Through Peace,'' Chung, 54, said the two Koreas could gain economic benefits from inter-Korean unity and cooperative projects.
He is seemingly trying to win hearts of voters who live in the only divided nation in the world through his peace-focused visions, utilizing his career as former minister of unification.
Basically, Chung supports the ``sunshine policy'' of engaging North Korea but the difference is that he stresses economic benefit as well as peace on the Korean Peninsula.
For the establishment of peace on the peninsula and economic development, Chung said South and North Korea should unite their communities and economies. Based on this unity, Chung said, he would seek a harmonious relationship in Northeast Asia.
He vowed to solve the North Korean nuclear problem and change the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty, if elected president.
The former unification minister presented five joint economic projects.
He said he will, if elected president, build a triangle industrial complex, which will connect two South Korean cities of Seoul and Incheon to the North Korean border city of Gaeseong.
He said the Gaesong Industrial Complex should be expanded.
He also emphasized that Koreans should advance into the Eurasian Continent.
He said once railways from Seoul to Pyongyang are reconnected, people could travel to Paris by train.
The presidential nominee presented plans to transform the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has divided the Korean Peninsula for over a half century into a ``peace zone.''
Chung promised to increase the number of middle-class income earners, which decreased after the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
To that end, the economy should go parallel with the development of small and medium-sized companies, he said.
He pledged to nurture those companies by establishing a foundation to support them and giving them tax reductions.
The companies' growth will create more than 100,000 jobs per year, which will stimulate investment, he said. He also suggested tax cuts.
The candidate stressed efforts to reduce parents' burden of child rearing by providing state subsidies to 24 hour day-care centers.
To strengthen basic rights for living and health, he said it is essential to offer married couples low-interest loans for their marriages and childbirths.
He also promised to help every household own a house within 10 years.
The nation should work out more measures to look after senior citizens, especially those who suffer from diseases, he said.
He also showed the ``Air-7 Project'' to stimulate the aviation industry.
The nation can create new profit streams by developing small to medium-sized aircrafts with its own technologies, he said.
The development will reduce costs for logistics and ease passenger traffic by 10 percent, he added.
Chung also said the country should nurture the aerospace field to cope with the international trend to develop value-added sectors.
He vowed to launch a satellite and send an unmanned probe to the moon by 2020. ``By 2025, the nation can build a science station on the surface of the moon.''
The nominee said Koreans could create a new market abroad, which is expected to help achieve an economic growth of eight percent annually. ``This will also provide more jobs to people."
Chung has stressed that environmentally friendly growth and sustainable development are required for the 21st century.
To this end, he promised to preserve wetlands to prevent floods and create tourist attractions.
He also said he would make more green space in cities, such as parks for cleaner air.
He presented a plan to create a ``peace forest'' in North Korea. ``This is a kind of investment, not blind aid as some conservatives put it."
Through the peace forest, the North can pave a way for the economic growth and the South can also gain profits, he added.