hankyoreh

Former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, the presidential candidate of the government-linked United New Democratic Party, is attempting to raise the issue of peace on the Korean Peninsula as part of his campaign ahead of the upcoming presidential election. At the core of his campaign is his proposal to bring peace to the peninsula via economic policies that are built upon inter-Korean development. This is in stark contrast to the plans of conservative, opposition Grand National Party candidate, Lee Myung-bak, whose previously announced plan, known by its nickname “Vision 3000,” proposes to offer economic assistance to the North only if it abandons its nuclear programs. Differing views such as these provide an early glance at the battle to come leading up to the December 19 presidential election, with the North Korean nuclear issue at the center of the debate.

With this campaign strategy in mind, Chung visited the Gaeseong Industrial Complex on October 17. While there, he declared his vision for peace polices on the Korean Peninsula. namely the inception of a triangular economic region connecting Haeju, Gaeseong in North Korea and Incheon in South Korea. Through this program, he hopes a new era of inter-Korean growth can begin.

Chung and Lee’s policies on North Korea differ from the start. Chung stresses that activating inter-Korean economic cooperation and resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue should be dealt with simultaneously. In comparison, Lee has maintained that North Korea should first scrap its nuclear weapons programs in order to get economic assistance, which is a kind of modified mutualism.

Chung wants to make North Korea policies into an economic issue. His intention is to help South Korea’s small- and mid-sized companies advance into North Korea and to develop the North into a complex for light industry. He is apparently employing a strategy that stresses peace through economic cooperation.

It is remarkable that Lee is moving little by little to the left in terms of his North Korean policies. When he announced his so-called Vision 3000 in February, Lee stressed that the North should completely abolish its nuclear programs in order to get economic assistance. However, he later eased his position and is now urging North Korea to enter negotiations to abandon its nuclear programs. He seems to have changed his position in consideration of high public support for the results of the second inter-Korean summit and rapid progress in the six-party talks and apparently intends to weaken Chung’s attack regarding the peace issue. He also seems to be haunted by the fact that the GNP lost two presidential elections because it maintained a rigid mutualism in its policies toward North Korea.

It is anticipated that Chung’s camp will openly attack Lee using the peace issue. “As was the case with the administration of former President Kim Young-sam, people know that if the GNP wins the presidential election, much time and money will be wasted. We will concentrate on criticizing the falsehood of the GNP’s North Korea policies,” said Rep. Min Byung-doo, a key campaign strategist for Chung.

Lee has adopted macroeconomic policies with the aim of fundamentally changing the North’s infrastructure as well as its economic, educational, financial and welfare systems, while Chung’s policies are mainly about inter-Korean cooperation projects, said Lee’s camp.
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