Veterans ministry denounces ’sunshine policy’

By Lee Tae-hoon

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) has come under criticism for seeking to carry out an education campaign that criticizes the previous liberal governments’ engagement policies toward North Korea.

Lee Byung-gu, head of the planning and coordination bureau, said Tuesday that the MPVA would beef up its awareness campaign to dispel the “wrong perception about the engagement policy of the past two administrations, especially among the young.”

“People in their 20s through 40s have the wrong belief that the sunshine policy and conciliatory gestures are better to ensure security compared to the current government’s principled policy toward North Korea and the alliance between South Korea and the United States,”he said while briefing on the MPVA’s plans.

Lee, however, failed to elaborate why President Lee Myung-bak’s hard-line policy better serves the country’s security interests than the previous administrations’ engagement policy toward Pyongyang.

“What I wanted to point out was that the current administration’s North Korean policy is proper, but has been undervalued and overlooked by the people,”he said.

Lee also noted that the MPVA is planning to propose a bill that would mandate the government to hire a greater number of people who have fulfilled their military service for government posts.

“The MPVA shares the view that the government should give an incentive to those who have completed military service in landing a government job,” he said.

The Constitutional Court ruled in 1999 that it was unconstitutional to give additional points to reservists when applying for jobs in public service as it discriminated against women and the disabled.