By Na Jeong-ju
President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday he wants to lay a firm foundation for peaceful reunification of South and North Korea, urging the Kim Jong-il regime to choose the path of reconciliation and cooperation.
He also called on Japan to follow up on Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s apology last year over Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The conservative leader, however, came short of criticizing Japan for its failure to address thorny historical issues, such as the forced labor of Koreans during colonial rule or the “comfort women,” who were forced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels.
“Peaceful reunification (of the two Koreas) is the way to complete the work of independence and national survival that our ancestors aspired for so fervently 92 years ago,” Lee said in an address to the nation marking the 92nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan’s colonial rule.
“We will continue to expand the international consensus on the need to realize reunification, while at the same time actively bolstering our capacity to deal with eventual reunification.”
It’s rare for Lee to openly mention reunification of the two Koreas because it could irritate North Korea.
Last year, Lee proposed a three-stage plan to achieve reunification with the North and the introduction of a “unification tax” to prepare for the huge financial burden expected if it should occur.
Under the plan, Seoul and Pyongyang should first form a “peace community” that assures security and harmony on the Korean Peninsula, to which the denuclearization of the North is crucial.
The next step is to expand inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation with a view to developing the North’s economy drastically.
Finally, the two Koreas should remove the wall of different systems and establish one nation, where freedom and basic rights of all Koreans are guaranteed, he said.
Later on Tuesday, North Korea urged the South to prove that the purpose of its unification policy was not to absorb the North.
“Recently, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Seoul is not considering absorbing our country. It is positive if the South has really changed its policy,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary. “The problem is whether we can trust him.”
In Tuesday’s speech, which was broadcast live across the country, Lee reaffirmed that the South is ready for dialogue with North Korea.
“In this 21st century when nations are pursuing globalization leaving behind the legacy of the Cold War, we urge North Korea to join the new wave of peace and common prosperity in Northeast Asia,” Lee said.
“Now is the opportune time to open a new kind of future on the peninsula. We are ready to engage in dialogue with the North anytime with an open mind.”
Since Sunday, North Korea has been accusing the South and the United States of trying to topple the communist nation, threatening to turn the South Korean capital into a “sea of flames.”
Seoul and Washington Monday began their annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military drills that mobilize tens of thousands of troops from both sides.
On Japan’s colonial rule, Lee stressed that Japan should behave and act in a genuine manner in line with the apology by Prime Minister Kan.
“In that way, the two countries will be able to move forward together into the future instead of dwelling on the past,” he said.
In a statement issued in August last year, Kan expressed deep regret over the suffering inflicted upon the Korean people during the colonial period and pledged to follow it up.