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President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday called for ¡°a new basic spirit¡± to be established in inter-Korean relations based on a landmark 1991 agreement. ¡°What is the most important is the Basic Agreement between North and South Korea. And it's necessary to respect its spirit,¡± Lee said in a policy briefing by the Unification Ministry.
Turning to the defector issue, he said he loves "North Korean refugees more than anybody else,¡± and ¡°We must think with deep affection about North Korean refugees who have nowhere to go and nothing to eat."
In a proposal for handling the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and abducted civilians, the Unification Ministry was quoted as recommending the solution pursued by West Germany when it traded economic aid for the release of East German political prisoners.
From 1963 until 1989, right before reunification, West Germany gave 3.46 billion marks (approximately W1.75 trillion) in economic aid to East Germany to earn the release of 33,755 East German political prisoners and reuniting some 250,000 separated families. Currently, it is estimated that about 540 South Korean POWs and some 480 civilian abductees are still detained in North Korea.
The ministry stressed the need for national consensus in bearing such an economic burden. The ministry is reportedly considering giving indirect aid to the North through religious organizations, as West Germany did, in consideration of some objections to giving direct aid to a repressive regime.
The ministry said it would not demand, as Japan does, that the North admit its abduction of South Koreans and repatriate them unconditionally. A ministry official said, "We're considering ways to establish a backdoor dialogue channel between the two Koreas in light of the pressure the North might feel if we push for open dialogue."
In a press briefing afterwards, Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho said, "We are going to give top priority to resolving this issue from the standpoint that protection of our people (POWs and abducted civilians) is the basic duty of the government."
Lee also called for dialogue on humanitarian issues, such as the POWs, civilian abductees, and aged members of separated families, and threw his weight behind a more reciprocal solution.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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