The President of South Korea, Lee Myung-Bak

The Korea Times
06/14/2009

Following North Korea’s continued provocative actions in recent months, President Lee Myung-bak proposed five-party talks, a new approach toward the often-troubled six-way talks on the North’s nuclear programs.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal prior to his summit with U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday, President Lee said, “The North Koreans have gained, or bought, a lot of time through the six-party-talks framework to pursue their own agenda. I think it’s important now, at this critical point in time, for us not to repeat any past mistakes.”

Lee continued that it was “very important for the remaining five countries ― excluding North Korea ― to come to an agreement on the way forward.”

His proposal came amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula as a result of the communist state’s rocket launch and nuclear test, and its refusal to return to the six-party talks, which began in 2003.

Asked about tensions over the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, a business park in the North with small- and medium-sized South Korean entrepreneurs hiring North Korean workers, the President said if it is shut down, both the South and North will be dealt a blow.

“Some of our South Korean companies investing there will incur some loss. But I think the loss on the side of the North Koreans will be much more dramatic and much more severe, because 40,000 North Korean workers will lose their jobs.”

North Korea last month sent a notice to the South’s government of eviction of South Korean companies in the industrial complex, unless it would raise wages of the workers and land lease fee.

This was only reaffirmed last week when the two sides met in the industrial complex. North Korea demanded that South Korean firms increase monthly wages for North Korean workers there to $300 from the current average of $75. The two sides are scheduled to meet again next Friday to discuss the contentious issue.

Regarding the United Nations’ tough sanctions on North Korea, Lee said stronger sanctions would hardly be of any use, adding that it is just “one type of sanction that we can level.”

The restoration of North Korea on the list of terror-sponsoring nations is another, he said. “That in itself may have some symbolic meaning. But in actuality, having North Korea on the list or not will not make really much of a difference.”

The Wall Street Journal hailed President Lee’s bold attitude toward North Korea in terms of alleged human rights violations.

“One of the President’s biggest achievements has been to reverse Seoul’s disgraceful silence on the North’s human rights violations,” the paper said, referring to the South’s participation in co-sponsoring a U.N. resolution on North Korea’s reported human rights violations last year.