hankyoreh

Events marking the first anniversary of the October 4 South-North Joint Declaration begin today. Relations have soured, however, and it is sad that instead of seeing the declaration implemented, the two Koreas are not even holding a joint event. Even more unfortunate is our government’s attitude.

Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong says he is not going to participate in the event scheduled for this evening. He says it is because he will be attending armed forces day observances, but that makes no sense. The armed forces day events are going all day long, and there is no reason for the minister responsible for inter-Korean relations to throw related events to the wayside and go be elsewhere. It is also inconsistent with what Kim did in June, on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Statement. The Unification Ministry is saying that Kim’s absence and respecting the October 4 Declaration are separate things, but anyone who looks at this will say he is essentially disregarding the declaration. Also unsightly is how former Blue House security secretary Cho Myung-gyun, who was part of the working-level efforts at the summit and who participated in the drafting of of the declaration document, has had to leave the Unification Ministry because, as of yesterday, the administration failed to assign him a new position there.

While the Lee Myung-bak administration’s distaste for the two summit declarations has eased considerably, it continues to be contradictory. At first President Lee refused to even mention the declarations with his own lips, but then, at a meeting of the National Unification Advisory Council, said the spirit of existing inter-Korean agreements, such as the two summit declarations, need to be respected. He wasn’t happy to recognize them, but it means he is willing to talk about whether they should be implemented. This ambiguous attitude is of course not going to be enough to warm up relations again.

With the June 15 Joint Statement, the North and South entered an age of real reconciliation and cooperation, and the October 4 Declaration has the character of an outline for practice in raising the level of inter-Korean relations through various types of endeavors and policy collaboration. Therefore, it could be said that, if one wishes to have advancement in inter-Korean relations, there is, in reality, no way around the two declarations. It is in this context as well that the North said the most important thing is that South Korean authorities announce a definite position of intending to proceed with implementation of the two declarations. At the time of its announcement, the October 4 Declaration obtained widespread support within and outside of the nation. When Russian raised the subject of the implementation of this declaration at the Korea-Russia summit held on September 29, it was an extension of this.

Since early August, this administration has been presenting a policy of co-existence and co-prosperity as its main North Korea policy. The implementation of the October 4 Declaration is necessary even for that policy to take root in reality. For how long will they ruin things by remaining bound in the mindset of rejecting things accomplished during the previous administration?

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]