hankyoreh

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

North Korea stated a position that it sees establishing a peaceful environment to grow its economy and improve its population’s standard of living as an important goal.

Analysts said the column showed economic issues to be the key reason the North has been actively calling on South Korea to improve relations and halt hostile military actions since the beginning of 2014.

Pyongyang‘s position was presented in a Jan. 21 column titled “Defending peace is the firm resolve of our republic,” published in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

“The issue of establishing a peaceful environment in our republic, in its intense struggle to build its economy and improve the people’s living standard, is an extremely important one,” the piece said.

It went on to say that its recent “momentous proposal” to South Korean authorities was “part of these efforts.” On Jan. 16, North Korea sent a proposal to the South calling for a halt to “mutual slander and hostile military actions.”

The statement calling for peaceful environment between the two sides on economic grounds echoes the conclusions of expert analyses. Wonkwang University president and former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun and Inje University professor Kim Yeon-chul, among others, have said Pyongyang appears to need a more stable relationship with the South because of internal issues, including that of the economic situation. Specifically, the Kim Jong-un regime feels obliged to produce economic results as it begins its third year in power, a goal that requires stable relations with Seoul, Washington and Beijing.

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