By Na Jeong-ju
The presidential advisory panel on North Korea urged President Lee Myung-bak Tuesday to revamp his policies to better deal with the North’s growing economic dependence on China.
The National Unification Advisory Council also called for measures to strengthen ties with China and Russia in an effort to bring changes to North Korea and prepare for post-reunification.
“The North’s economic dependence on China raises the need for a new unification policy that is centered on relations with China and Russia,” the council said in a report.
The report warned that, if appropriate measures were not taken, North Korean people living near the border with China could choose China, not South Korea, as their destination in the event of an emergency situation.
President Lee has said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program is an obstacle to peaceful reunification of the two Koreas and that making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free must be a precondition.
The council’s advice reflects opinions among many Seoul officials that the South needs to reshape its diplomacy with the North’s traditional allies to prepare for a possible collapse of the military-controlled nation.
Presidential aides said Lee will seek to activate dialogue with China and Russia to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue as well as maintain peace on the peninsula.