By Na Jeong-ju, Do Je-hae
Staff Reporters
President Lee Myung-bak said Monday the country was positively considering joining the U.S.-led program to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
``Regardless of North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, South Korea should be a member of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI),'' Lee said. ``We have discussed the matter as part of efforts to increase the nation's participation in global efforts to fight terrorism and prevent the proliferation of dangerous weapons.''
The government now needs non-partisan support to tackle the North's missile threat, Lee said.
The President made the remarks during a meeting with leaders of the ruling Grand National Party, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party, according to presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
The response came one day after North Korea launched a rocket in defiance of international calls to stop the move, which was viewed as a test of ballistic missile technology.
North Korea said the satellite Kwangmyongosng-2 soared into space successfully via the Unha-2 launch vehicle, commonly known as Taepodong-2, but the U.S. and South Korea said the launch was a failure and nothing had entered orbit.
President Lee's plan to join the PSI could irk North Korea, which has called Lee a ``traitor'' and blamed him for siding with the United States to raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has issued threats of an armed response against Seoul's participation in the U.S.-led initiative.
Analysts say North Korea may attempt an armed clash on the inter-Korean border.
During a National Assembly interpellation session, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo also said, ``The government will not give up joining the PSI. We are considering actively participating in the program.''
At the meeting with political leaders, President Lee asked political parties to present a unified voice on North Korean issues.
Seoul has yet to announce its own retaliatory steps against the North, but observers here believe the country could further reduce its economic or humanitarian assistance to the communist nation.
Such a move would require the full and unconditional support of the DP, which is often sympathetic to the impoverished North.
``Everyone at the Group of 20 meeting was concerned. Even China and Russia said everyone must discourage North Korea from firing the rocket,'' Lee said, referring to the gathering of the world's 20 major economies in London last week.
In a weekly radio address, Lee said his administration will take firm and stern measures against North Korea's launch of a rocket, calling it a ``reckless act'' that threatens world peace and stability.
``North Korea's reckless act that threatens regional and global security cannot be justified under any circumstances,'' Lee said.
In the aftermath of North Korea's long-range rocket launch on Sunday, Korea's potential participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is generating heated political debate.
In a departure from past restraint, the government announced Monday an intention to consider joining more than 90 member nations of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), aimed at interdicting the transfer of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). South Korea has so far been tentative about expanding its role in the PSI in anticipation of irritating the North.
The opposition Democratic Party (DP) is voicing explicit concerns at the government's seemingly sudden change of position in joining the initiative. The North has made it clear that the South's PSI participation will be met by military countermeasures.
``I do recognize the necessity to review expanding (South) Korea's PSI participation. However, this is not the time to discuss it,'' said Rep. Song Min-soon of the DP in an MBC radio interview, Monday. ``Without China's joint participation, it will not take full effect.'' China has refused to become a part of the initiative, questioning its legality.
``As the government weighs the issue, it should take the aftermath into full consideration while determining forthcoming changes in future months,'' added the former foreign minister during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.
In a similar vein, DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun told reporters that the government should take a cautious approach and refrain from causing additional conflict with the North.
Leaders of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) are viewing the PSI participation as a ``timely move.''
During a meeting with leaders of three major political parties on Monday, President Lee Myung-bak explained that steps to expand Seoul's role in the PSI had been under review by his administration, irrespective of Pyongyang's military provocations.
``We have been preparing for a full PSI participation as a means of joining the international effort to maintain peace through preventing the proliferation of WMDs,'' Lee said during the Cheong Wa Dae meeting.
Similarly, the Foreign Ministry and the National Intelligence Service revealed the government's intention to seek full participation in the PSI based on Korea's own schedule in their reports to the National Assembly on Monday.
Despite the conflicting positions in the political arena, it is expected that the government will make an official announcement regarding the PSI question.
Initiated by the former U.S. administration under President George W. Bush in 2003, the PSI is partially aimed at preventing the communist state from gaining WMDs by intercepting ships suspected of carrying either weapons or weapons material.