South Korean Politics and Elections

Past and current presidents meet to discuss summit

JoongAng Daily, October 10, 2007

For the first time in nearly a year, President Roh Moo-hyun met with his predecessor yesterday, and conservatives were quick to criticize.

“If it’s true that the meeting today was held only to explain the outcome of the summit, as the Blue House says, all of the former presidents should have been invited,” said Na Kyung-won, the Grand National Party spokeswoman.

Former president Kim Dae-jung and Roh met at a luncheon yesterday at the Blue House, and talked about the recent inter-Korean summit, the presidential office said.

Roh said he felt uncomfortable at first in Pyongyang because the reclusive leader Kim Jong-il reacted negatively to his proposals for special economic zones, according to pool reports of yesterday’s luncheon.

Roh told his predecessor that Kim Jong-il put too much of a focus on autonomy and the importance of driving away outside forces, so Roh felt “at a loss.” But soon, Roh said, he slowly felt “things were going well.”

“I felt the same way too in 2000,” responded Kim Dae-jung.

Roh said, “I persuaded him [Kim Jong-il] by stressing that some of South Korea’s overseas investments need to be sent to North Korea.”

Roh and Kim Dae-jung last met 11 months ago when Kim’s presidential library opened on the campus of Yonsei University.

The conservatives said yesterday’s meeting was designed to help the as yet unnamed liberal candidate in the presidential election in two months.

The Blue House maintained its stance that politics had nothing to do with yesterday’s meeting between Roh and Kim.

“Mr. Kim noted President Roh’s crossing of the inter-Korean border line on foot [during the summit] stirred worldwide interest and he praised the inter-Korean agreement for creating a special peace zone in the Yellow Sea maritime border as an excellent and outstanding idea,” said Cheon Ho-seon, the Blue House spokesman.

By Lee Min-a Staff Writer [mina@joongang.co.kr]

Two Koreas to seek peace treaty

Kim and Roh ink declaration to ease tension, build cooperation

JoongAng Daily, October 5, 2007

In a move that could dramatically alter relations not only in Korea but all of Northeast Asia, the two Koreas agreed yesterday to urge the United States and China to open talks to “declare an end to the war” that has kept the Korean Peninsula in a state of military confrontation since 1953.

The dramatic call for a formal end to the Korean War came in an eight-point declaration signed by President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at the end of the second inter-Korean summit.

The far-reaching declaration, with its breakthrough language on peace, is likely to be seen as a positive note for Roh’s often-beleaguered presidency. The summit itself has been widely criticized by the conservative opposition as an election year stunt by a lame duck president.

Roh arrived back in South Korea shortly after 9 p.m. last night after stopping at the Kaesong Industrial Complex to address workers and tour the facility. He traveled by car.

He told North Korean workers at Kaesong that the promise of change and economic progress represented by the summit meant that “soon you’ll be able to have your own companies.” South Korea, he said, stood ready to assist the North as it “opens up” to the outside world.

Arriving home, he addressed the nation and thanked the people for their support in making the summit a success.

In his remarks, he apologized for being unable to resolve the issue of kidnappings and abductions.

The two leaders agreed on creating a special peace zone in the Yellow Sea, where the disputed Northern Limit Line has been a flashpoint for deadly confrontations between the two countries’ naval forces. The declaration also called for the resumption of freight train services severed during the war.

“The Declaration on the Advancement of Inter-Korean Relations, Peace and Prosperity” pledges cooperation in both economic matters and security concerns, even containing a somewhat lighthearted pledge to bring a “joint cheering squad” to support athletes from the two countries at next year’s Beijing Summer Olympics.

The two Koreas also plan to continue to hold ministerial-level talks and regular summit meetings in an atmosphere of “mutual respect and trust.”

The signing of the joint declaration proceeded rapidly at the Paekhwawon State Guest House where Roh was staying. The points were finalized in discussions between the two leaders on Wednesday.

The June 15 Joint Declaration forged at the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 focused on how to reunify the two Koreas in a largely symbolic manner.

The second joint declaration, by contrast, moved beyond symbols to focus on easing military tensions and bringing a permanent peace to the peninsula.

The prime ministers from the two sides will meet in November in Seoul to discuss the implementation of the agreement.

In remarks on behalf of the South Korean delegation, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said:

“The leaders of the South and the North have reached an agreement, which is very valuable and meaningful for the future of all Koreans. This is more important than a mere encounter. The South and the North are one.”

The declaration commits the two sides to work towards the June 15 Joint Declaration’s goal of unification, although no concrete steps are suggested in that direction.

South Korean officials explained that the two Koreas, the United States and possibly China will have to be engaged in talks leading to peace and unification.

In settling tensions in the Yellow Sea, the two states will hold a meeting of defense ministers next month in Pyongyang to discuss preventing armed clashes.

The agreement on the Yellow Sea creates a peace zone that will allow a direct sea route linking the South and North, along with a joint fishing zone.

Summary of the eight-point agreement:

·Work to end the Korean War cease-fire and press for a meeting of the other countries that signed the 1953 armistice ― the United States and China ―on a peace treaty.
·Cooperate to end military hostilities, ease tensions and ensure peace on the peninsula.
·Establish a common fishing zone around the disputed Yellow Sea border.
·Smoothly implement agreements from international talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs to resolve the issue.
·Promote and expand economic cooperation projects.
·Open cargo railway service to an already established joint industrial zone in North Korea’s border city of Kaesong.
·Build cooperative shipbuilding complexes.
·Open an air route for South Koreans to North Korea’s tallest peak, Mount Paektu.
·Send joint cheering squads to the 2008 Beijing Olympics via rail.


By Lee Min-a Staff Writer

New debate over anti-North law

JoongAng Daily, October 5, 2007

The controversy over the South Korean law that forbids even the recognition of North Korea flared up again yesterday after the summit agreement was announced.

Some urged the National Assembly to abolish the anti-communist National Security Law, which was passed in 1948.

Yesterday’s agreement took a step in that direction.

Changes in the “National Security Law will be approached based on mutual trust and achieved naturally in line with improvements in inter-Korean relations,” the Roh Moo-hyun administration said in a press release that supplemented the agreement.

Conservatives reacted immediately. “We are concerned about that clause, because it can be interpreted as a promise to abolish the National Security Law,” Kang Jae-sup, the Grand National Party chairman, said yesterday.

The deal itself called for a transformation of the relationship between the two countries, “transcending the differences in ideology and systems.”

Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also vowed to “overhaul their respective legislative and institutional apparatuses” to move in “a reunification-oriented direction.”

Lee Hae-chan, former prime minister and a candidate for the liberal United New Democratic Party’s presidential primary, yesterday urged that the anti-communist law be abolished. “To open a new era on the Korean Peninsula, we need to revise our systems such as ending the National Security Law,” he said.
The Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements, which has 32 member groups, also demanded that the law be scrapped.

“The National Assembly must try to clean up the remains of the Cold War era, including the National Security Law, as soon as possible,” the alliance said in a statement.

The National Security Law was an issue during the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. At the time, then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said, “the abolition of the National Security Law cannot be done just by South Korea’s efforts.”

North Korea’s Kim then replied, “We will first change the Workers’ Party platform,” which stipulates the North’s goal of achieving a communist unification.

Pyongyang, however, never did rewrite its platform and the National Security Law was not dropped.

Yesterday, “the Roh administration stirred up an unnecessary debate,” said Kim Tae-hyo, a political scientist at Sungkyunkwan University.

He said the issue is separate from the question of the North rewriting its party platform. “North Korea is run by a few powerful elites, and a change in the wording of its party platform means nothing,” Kim said. “In contrast, legislative changes in South Korea are actually implemented. Therefore, the abolishment of the National Security Law will only disarm the South ideologically without any gains.”

He also pointed out the low feasibility that the law will actually be removed from the books.

“The National Assembly is in charge of abolishing the National Security Law, and a new legislature will be formed in April of next year. So it is hard to do anything on this issue with the current group of lawmakers,” he said.

By Ser Myo-ja Staff Writer