hankyoreh

North Korea has been unusually silent regarding South Korea’s December 19 presidential election. The North had still had no comment as of December 24 - five days after the election. In the past, North Korea’s state-controlled media made their first reports, which were mainly about the results, two or three days after the election, and would later briefly express the state’s position about the election itself.


In 2002, the North’s Korean Central Television, or KCTV, and Voice of Korea, which was known until 2002 as Radio Pyongyang, reported two days after the presidential election that Roh Moo-hyun of the New Millennium Democratic Party was the winner, and expressed the state’s expectation about the improvement of inter-Korean relations. In 1997, North Korea reported three days after the election that an opposition leader had won the presidency, but did not provide any comment on winner Kim Dae-jung, not even his name. In 1992 when Kim Young-sam was elected president, however, North Korea explicitly showed its animosity. The North’s main, state-controlled newspaper, the Rodong Shinmun, reported that Kim Young-sam of the Democratic Liberal Party had won the election and claimed that the United States had maneuvered the election results, saying that Kim’s presidency would just be an extension of the Sixth Republic under his predecessor, Roh Tae-woo. The Sixth Republic of South Korea is the nation’s current system of government and was inaugurated following the authoritarian rule of Chun Doo-hwan when Roh Tae-woo was elected president in 1987.

In the most recent election, North Korea’s television stations fiercely denounced independent candidate Lee Hoi-chang as a betrayer of the nation right up until the ballots were cast. On November 7, after Lee Hoi-chang declared his bid for the presidency, the media stopped criticizing presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak and started criticizing Lee Hoi-chang. Of the twelve candidates running for office in the recent election, Lee took the hardest line on the North, frequently saying he would not provide economic aid unlesss North Korea will give up nuclear programs fully and improve human rights condition.

Regarding the results of the election, Kwon Ho-ung, a senior Cabinet minister of North Korea and pointman for inter-Korean ministrial talks, said on December 21 that Lee Myung-bak’s win would not change the basic frame of inter-Korean cooperation. Kwon’s remark suggests that Pyongyang hopes to maintain inter-Korean cooperation even after the new administration takes office. Meanwhile, it is expected that North Korea will watch the situation closely until the new president officially adopts policies toward it.

For a while after Kim Young-sam was elected president in 1992, North Korea also refrained from denouncing him. It was only when Kim declared at a press conference that he could not negotiate with a nuclear-armed North Korea, that the North started to condemn him fiercely. The press conference was held to mark the first 100 days after Kim’s inauguration.

Experts say that the North will express its basic position on inter-Korean relations in light of the recent presidential election through its annual New Year editorial, which is to be published jointly on Jan. 1 or Jan. 2 in its three, state-controlled newspapers including the Rodong Shinmun.


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