45% Oppose Lee’s Hawkish Stance on NK
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Koreans are equally divided over President Lee Myung-bak's hawkish stance on North Korea, a survey showed.
Commissioned by the Presidential National Unification Advisory Council, the poll showed that about 50 percent of respondents backs Lee's policy and some 45 percent opposed it.
About 55 percent of South Koreans consider North Korea a partner to embrace rather than a hostile enemy, the survey showed.
It also found that 57 percent of respondents think North Korea policies implemented during previous governments have changed the reclusive state.
About 27.1 percent of interviewees picked revitalization of inter-Korean economic cooperation as the key to improving the current icy inter-Korean relations, followed by trust-building (23.8 percent), resolving the North Korea nuclear issue (16 percent), easing military tensions (13.9 percent), solving separated family issues (9.6 percent) and expanding cooperation between civilians of the two Koreas (8.1 percent).
Some 76.5 percent said it was advisable to propose a meeting to discuss implementation of inter-Korean summit accords signed in 2000 and 2007.
North Korea has refused to resume inter-Korean dialogue, demanding that the Seoul government implement the June 15 and Oct. 4 agreements former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000 and 2007, respectively.
The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the Korean War (1950-53) ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The survey of 1,800 adults aged 19 years or older was conducted from Nov. 7 to 8.
Asked what the respondents think of North Korea, 55.3 percent called it a ``partner'' to embrace and live with while only 9.7 percent called it an enemy.
Less than 30 percent think North Korea is simultaneously a partner and enemy.
Regarding North Korea policies of previous governments, 57 percent of respondents said they triggered changes in the communist regime.
However, more than 40 percent answered these plans did not work.
The conservative Lee Myung-bak administration vowed to take a tougher stance toward Pyongyang than the previous liberal governments of Kim and Roh.