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Former prime minister Lee Hae-chan of the ruling Uri Party insists that government-level support is necessary for success in the second inter-Korean summit at a meeting of the party's Northeast Asia Peace Committee on Thursday. /Newsis
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Members of the government and ruling camp have been proposing a flood of expensive aid for North Korea since a second inter-Korean summit was announced on Wednesday. Projects include a third special economic zone and development support for the North Korean port of Nampo and other infrastructure. A Unification Ministry official is suggesting a new project for aiding North Korea, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy decided Thursday to set up a taskforce on inter-Korean economic cooperation headed by Deputy Finance Minister Lim Young-rok. Finance and Economy Minister Kwon O-kyu told a press briefing that the money for economic cooperation will first come from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund.
At the Northeast Asia Peace Committee, meanwhile, ex-prime minister and a presidential hopeful Lee Hae-chan said, "North Korea hopes to establish industrial parks in Nampo, Wonsan, Shinuiju and Najin, and tourism projects in Mt. Baekdu, Mt. Myohyang and Mt. Guwol." He added it was ¡°highly likely¡± that the two Koreas will agree on large-scale economic cooperation during their planned summit, which would lead to ¡°an economic boom¡± in the North.
In a lecture on Wednesday, President Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s special advisor Lee Byung-wan, promised the summit ¡°will be a watershed that will end the economic division of the two Koreas and help revive the North Korean economy.¡± The two leaders ¡°will seek ways to bring the North Korean economy to life,¡± he added.
The Unification Ministry on Thursday started a full review of economic cooperation projects with Pyongyang in a meeting attended by officials from the Finance Ministry and other government agencies. Cheong Wa Dae has already substantially reviewed a new ¡°project for the Korean Peninsula" that would include developing special economic zones and giving social overhead capital support to the North, so that it can be discussed at the summit. The new project envisions taking inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation to a higher level both qualitatively and quantitatively.
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A soldier stands on Thursday in front of a billboard at Mt. Dora station, the closest station to the DMZ on the inter-Korean Gyeongui Line connecting Seoul and Shinuiju in North Korea. The sign reads, "Cross border travel leads to unification."
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In April last year, the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiatives finished formulating an economic initiative for the Korean Peninsula. Its report to the president envisages developing five economic zones: a Kaesong (North)-Paju (South) zone, a Mt. Kumgang (North)-Mt. Seorak (South) zone, a Shinuiju (North)-Dandong (China) zone, and a Najin (North)-Khasan (Russia) zone.
But critics say the projects mooted by the government and the ruling camp will be meaningless unless the North Korean nuclear issue is solved and military tension on the Korean Peninsula is reduced. They point out that there has been no discussion of what assurances Seoul can secure from Pyongyang. Some argue that the ruling camp is simply trying to woo public support ahead of the presidential election in a few months, while more urgent issues for the Korean Peninsula are being ignored or put on the backburner.
They also call for advance public discussion of issues that need a decision from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il -- such as an explicit commitment to dismantling its nuclear program and the repatriation of all South Korean abduction victims and POWs in the North.
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North Korean dancers perform during the Arirang Grand Mass gymnastics and Artistic performance at the May day stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday . The North Korean Arirang Mass Games is the largest choreographed gymnastics display in the world with over 100,000 dancers taking part in the performance./AP
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Former Unification Minister Kang In-duk said the government should put aid projects on the back burner, and instead try to persuade the North to give up its nuclear ambition and to reform and open up. ¡°Else such aid would just end up supporting the North¡¯s military-first policy,¡± Kang said.
He said unless the South achieves satisfactory results at the summit on the question of South Korean prisoners of war and South Koreans abducted by North Korea as far back as the 1960s, ¡°there will be no justification for, or for that matter public approval of, aid to North Korea.¡±
Na Kyung-won, the spokeswoman of the opposition Grand National Party, stressed the party¡¯s opposition to any under-the-table deals the government might offer to the North at the summit. She said such clandestine agreements would put an unacceptable financial burden on the people and the next government. She urged the government to make everything at the summit transparent and vowed to hold the government accountable for any back-room deals.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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