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Trade and Unification Committee on September 18.

Appearing before a National Assembly Diplomacy, Trade and Unification Committee meeting yesterday, Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong said it was not appropriate to mention anything about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s health before the North does, even if there is credible information. He said that from the North’s perspective, continued mention of Kim’s illness despite official denials by Pyongyang could be seen as slander of its leader or a hostile act. He stressed that discussions or reports of the possibility of North Korea’s collapse, including contingency plans, could worsen inter-Korean relations and harm the national interest. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, too, fended off persistent questioning about Kim’s health, saying public mention of the issue was inappropriate.

On the other hand, Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min revealed that Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said at a Cabinet meeting September 17 that political uncertainty within North Korea was increasing, and that nobody knew what situation might unfold. Because of this, he ordered that thorough preparations be made for any scenario.

About this, a former long-time, high-ranking government figure said that in looking at the government’s response to rumors surrounding Kim’s health, with each ministry going in its own direction, there is a serious problem with its policy coordination system. He added that if a major diplomatic or security matter develops, the government can prevent unnecessary confusion and overreactions only if it presents a unified message in accordance with a plan arrived upon through inter-ministry coordination based on the intelligence and information obtained.

As to the background to the problem, experts cite the absence of press guidelines about North Korean affairs, a weak policy coordination system resulting from the transformation of the council of security-related ministers into a council in name only, and the ministerial territoriality and lack of inter-ministry and inter-agency intelligence-sharing resulting from the National Intelligence Service’s solo briefs of the president.

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