hankyoreh

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

South Korea’s next president will take office in February 2013. He or she will start amid some of the worst inter-Korean relations in decades. Some of the next president’s priorities were outlined at a June 26 forum held by the Korea Peace Forum, a research institution and one of the country’s leading civic groups on inter-Korean issues. Forum participants proposed pushing for inter-Korean talks, resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, and improving relations with Pyongyang as major tasks for the first year of the next administration.
The forum, which is co-chaired by former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won and Seoul National University emeritus professor Paik Nak-chung, also said the next administration will need to speak out on North Korean human rights, in contrast with the Roh Moo-hyun or Kim Dae-jung administrations.
The announcement of the “Vision and Tasks for Unification, Foreign Affairs, and National Security for the New Administration in 2013” was made at a press conference on June 26 at the 19th the Press Center in Seoul’s Central District. The format consisted of four major goals and ten tasks.
Member Lee Jong-seok, himself a former Unification Minister, said the new administration “will have to push for dialogue and cooperation without making it contingent on an apology [from Pyongyang] for the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island artillery attack or a resolution to the North Korean nuclear weapons issue.”
On the human rights issue, the forum called for an emphasis on extending civil liberties and guaranteeing basic rights to survival. Its argument is that the next administration will need to be attentive to expanding liberties for North Korean citizens and abide North Korean human rights resolutions from the United Nations.
But the forum also called for a cautious approach on the issue of extending civil liberties that takes into account the sensitivity of inter-Korean relations. On human rights issues, the Kim and Roh administrations focused on humanitarian aid and addressing inhumane conditions resulting from national division, including the separation of families and the holding of South Korean abductees and prisoners of war.
The members also said the next administration will need to reopen the investigation into the Cheonan sinking.
Yonsei University professor Moon Chung-in said the previous investigation “did not adhere to the procedures that are a core value of a democratic state.”
As the main procedural flaw, Moon cited the key role of the Ministry of National Defense, which was itself the subject of the investigation. He also noted the rapid conclusion in the space of just two months, the failure to conduct the investigation jointly with Pyongyang as per the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement, and the government‘s obligation to answer questions raised by the public.
The forum further called for the introduction of an alternative to mandatory military service for conscientious objectors. As a way of preventing abuse of alternative service, participants proposed making the term double that of ordinary service.
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