ed New detente

Koreas need to put new wine into new bottles

Put new wine into new bottles or old wine into new bottles. This is what South Korea has to decide in the wake of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Following the death of the ``Dear Leader,'' the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration is showing more flexibility toward the North.

In a meeting with heads of the governing and opposition parties Thursday, the President said that the South is not hostile toward the North. The offer of the perceived olive branch came as Pyongyang declared an era of the third heir Jong-un in the Kim dynasty.

Following Kim’s passing, the Lee administration expressed sympathy to the North Korean people without mentioning the dictatorial leader. The government has allowed the wives of former President Kim Dae-jung and the Hyundai Group's late Chairman Chung Mong-hun to visit the North for Kim's funeral. The government has permitted the dispatch of condolence cables by civic groups. Seoul has also cancelled the plan to illuminate mammoth Christmas trees on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone.

Like the United States, South Korea sent the signals to accept the Kim Jong-un leadership as a fait accompli. It was an inevitable choice. Lee said an early stabilization of Pyongyang is in the interest of South Korea.

A government official purportedly expressed the possibility of the ruling administration's change of the current hard-line North Korea policy. Lee's policy of linking massive aid to the North's complete dismantling of nuclear weapons only hardened the Kim regime for the past four years.

South Koreans also feel a sense of fatigue over the hard-line stance. The current administration has tried to put old wine into old bottles, namely the application of an uncompromising hostile approach to the Kim Jong-il regime.

Now Seoul needs to chart new thinking and paradigms. Engaging the North is the most realistic and pragmatic approach to ensure peace and stability on this divided peninsula.

Seoul needs to restore dialogue channels with Pyongyang. Even while at war, enemies have a hot line. Under the Lee administration, all inter-Korean communication channels appear to have been broken. Last year, the two Koreas were on the brink of war following the North's shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of the Navy ship Cheonan. This was the hackneyed brinkmanship tactics in retaliation for Seoul's hard-line policy. The North adopted an eye-for-eye approach.

Now the South can show magnanimity. It can offer talks with the North to resume tourism at Mt. Geumgang. It can also further activate the Gaeseong Industrial Complex projects.

The engagement policy means neither Seoul’s bowing to Pyongyang's threat nor giving up the pursuit of the North’s denuclearization nor the acceptance of the dynastic transfer of the leadership in the North. Dialogue is the only solution. South Korea should learn from West Germany's policy of not meddling in East Germany's internal affairs. For decades before the ultimate reunification West Germany had not criticized the other side’s political system and did not commit acts of hostility.

History shows that outsiders cannot change the North. We can expect it to change itself for the welfare of the malnourished North Koreans. The former President Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy is regarded as the best alternative although it has two fatal flaws -- unconditional aid and no ultimate goals.

The policy was instrumental in enabling South Koreans to live without fear of war. Now President Lee needs to stand above ideological dogma to put new wine into new bottles.