hankyoreh

Former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won criticized President Lee Myung-bak’s policies on North Korea, saying that Lee should implement the June 15 and October 4 declarations.

At a speech to a forum on unification of the Korean Peninsula hosted by the Young Korean Academy and held on May 28, Lim remarked, “President Lee should clearly show that he accepts the June 15 and October 4 declarations as soon as possible and try to restore inter-Korean relations for the peace and stability of the peninsula.”

It is has been three months since the new government took power, but up to this point all it seems to be capable of is repeating slogans from the presidential election, such as “creative pragmatism” and “Vision 3000,” Lim said. It cannot seem to come up with a firm vision for national strategy and pragmatic North Korea policy, he said.

“There also are concerns that the new government is taking an unrealistic approach by following the ‘denuclearization and opening’ policy favored by the neo-cons, a policy that even the U.S. has abandoned,” Lim noted, saying that the period of adjustment from the previous government to the current one should be short.

Regarding President Lee’s remark that the most important thing in inter-Korean relations is the Basic Agreement between South and North signed in December 1991, Lim said that the agreement, and the June 15 and October 4 declarations, are connected to one another. This means that the June 15 declaration is aimed at implementing the South-North Basic Agreement, while the October 4 declaration suggests concrete projects through which inter-Korean relations can be expanded.

Lim emphasized that the two declarations, which are an expression of the will of the leaders of the two Koreas and have been carried out over the past eight years, are both realistic and pragmatic.

As a chief negotiator from the South who took part in all high-level inter-Korean talks from 1990 to 1993, Lim assisted with the preparation of the Basic Agreement.

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