hankyoreh

South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team will link progress in the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear programs to major inter-Korean economic cooperation projects such as second-stage development of the Gaeseong (Kaesong) Industrial Complex and the creation of a special peace zone in the West Sea. These projects were agreed upon at an inter-Korean summit held last year and fine-tuned during subsequent meetings between the prime ministers of the two Koreas.

In a meeting with the Ministry of Unification on January 7, the transition team asked the ministry to assess some of the projects it deems to be less-than-feasible, while continuing to develop other projects, particularly those with humanitarian aims.

Lee Dong-gwan, the team’s spokesman, said, “Humanitarian aid to resolve starvation or improve the health of babies and children in North Korea will continue, regardless of progress in inter-Korean relations. I think that rice and fertilizer aid are likely to continue because both are mostly linked to humanitarian purposes,” Lee said. However, economic projects between the two Koreas agreed upon at the 2007 inter-Korean summit will be linked to progress in the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear programs, Lee said.

Given this, major planned economic projects between two Koreas are likely to lose momentum. These include a rail link between Gaeseong and Shineuiju, maintenance of a road between Gaeseong and Pyongyang, a plan to build a second 8.25 million-square-meter industrial complex in Gaeseong and a special economic zone in Haeju.

Attention is also focused on the North’s response to the South’s plans. Since October of last year, North Korea has refrained from criticizing President-elect Lee. In an annual editorial jointly published on New Year’s Day by the North’s three main, state-controlled newspaper outlets, North Korea urged its southern neighbor to implement the agreements made at last year’s October 4 inter-Korean summit and continue inter-Korean business cooperation.

At the meeting between the Unification Ministry and the transition team, the team sorted inter-Korean economic cooperation projects into three categories. The first category, humanitarian projects that carry fewer financial burdens, such as rice and fertilizer aid, are likely to be continued under the incoming administration. For projects suitable for business development, such as resource exploration, improvements in communication and transportation supporting the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, and a tourism development project at Mount Paekdu, the new administration will push ahead under the aegis of the newly-created South-North Cooperation Fund. Other large-scale projects, such as infrastructure construction, a joint shipyard, and a special peace zone in the West Sea, will be implemented after feasibility studies are conducted.

In addition, the transition team demanded that the Unification Ministry work harder to resolve issues involving families separated by the Korean War, South Koreans kidnapped by the North and South Korean prisoners of war being held in North Korea.

Meanwhile, the Unification Ministry said that the South Korean government’s policy toward North Korea over the past five years had laid the groundwork for improving peace on the Korean Peninsula, but expressed its dissatisfaction with progress on peace and security issues, according to the team spokesman, Lee. The ministry also admitted that it had produced a lack of visible results with its North Korea policy, including a failure to take North Korea a step closer to openness and reform, the spokesman said.

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