North Korean Leader Makes Overture to South
By CHOE SANG-HUN
SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, called for an end to the “confrontation” with rival South Korea
on Tuesday in what appeared to be an overture to the incoming South
Korean president as she was cobbling together South Korea’s new policy
on the North.
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North Korea
issued a major policy statement on New Year’s Day, following a
tradition set by Mr. Kim’s grandfather, the North Korean founder Kim
Il-sung, and continued by his father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December
2011, bequeathing the dynastic rule to Mr. Kim.
Although Mr. Kim inherited the central policies of his father, outside
analysts see him as trying to distance himself in a variety of ways from
his father’s ruling style. Kim Jong-il was more feared than respected
among his people, and his rule was marked by a major famine.
The most significant feature of Kim Jong-un’s speech was its marked departure of tone regarding South Korea.
“A key to ending the divide of the nation and achieving reunification is
to end the situation of confrontation between the North and the South,”
Mr. Kim said. “A basic precondition to improving North-South relations
and advancing national reunification is to honor and implement
North-South joint declarations.”
He was referring to two inter-Korean agreements, signed in 2000 and
2007, when two South Korean presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun,
were pursuing a “Sunshine Policy” of reconciliation and economic
cooperation with North Korea and met Mr. Kim’s father in the North
Korean capital, Pyongyang.
As a result of those agreements, billions of dollars of South Korean
investment, aid and trade flowed into the North. Billions more were
promised in investments in shipyards and factory parks, as the South
Korean leaders believed that economic good will was the best way of
encouraging North Korea to shed its isolation and hostility while
reducing the economic gap between the Koreas and the cost of
reunification in the future.
But that warming of ties ended when conservatives came to power in South
Korea with the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak in 2008. Mr. Lee
suspended any large aid or investment because of the lack of progress
toward dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons programs,
and inter-Korean relations spiraled down, further aggravated by the
North’s shelling of a South Korean island in 2010.Mr. Kim’s speech on
Tuesday, which was broadcast through the North’s state-run television
and radio stations, was another sign that the young leader was trying to
emulate his grandfather, who was considered a more people-friendly
leader and is still widely revered among North Koreans.
Mr. Kim returned to the tradition of Kim Il-sung, issuing the statement
in a personal speech. During the rule of Kim Jong-il, the statement —
which laid out policy guidelines for the new year and was studied by all
branches of the party, state and military — was issued as a joint
editorial of the country’s main official media.
In his speech, Kim Jong-un, echoed themes of previous New Year’s
messages, emphasizing that improving the living standards of North
Koreans and rejuvenating the agricultural and light industries were
among the country’s main priorities.
But he revealed no details of any planned economic policy changes. He
mentioned only a need to “improve economic leadership and management”
and “spread useful experiences created in various work units.”
Since July, reports from various media suggest that Mr. Kim’s government
has begun carrying out cautious economic incentives aimed at bolstering
productivity at farms and factories. Some reports said the state was
considering letting farmers keep at least 30 percent of their yield;
currently, it is believed, they are allowed to sell only a surplus
beyond a government-set quota that is rarely met.
Mr. Kim also vowed to strengthen his country’s military, calling for the
development of more advanced weapons. But he made no mention of
relations with the United States or the international efforts to halt
North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
He simply reiterated that his government was willing to “expand and
improve upon friendly and cooperative relationships with all countries
friendly to us.”
Mr. Kim’s speech followed the successful launching of a satellite aboard a long-range rocket
in December. North Korea’s propagandists have since been busy billing
the launch as a symbol of what they called the North’s soaring
technological might and Mr. Kim’s peerless leadership. Washington
considered it a test of long-range ballistic-missile technology and a
violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning such
tests, and is seeking more sanctions to impose on the isolated country.
The incoming leader of South Korea, Park Geun-hye,
who was the presidential candidate of Mr. Lee’s conservative governing
party, did not immediate respond to the speech. Ms. Park is the daughter
of Park Chung-hee, the former military strongman under whose rule from
1961 until 1979 a staunchly anti-Communist, pro-American political
establishment took root in South Korea.
North Korea had engineered a couple of assassination attempts on Ms.
Park’s father, one of which resulted in her mother’s death in 1974. But
Ms. Park also traveled to Pyongyang in 2002 and discussed inter-Korean
reconciliation with Kim Jong-il.
During her campaign for president, she said that if elected, she would
decouple humanitarian aid from politics and try to hold a summit meeting
with Kim Jong-un. She was in part reacting to widespread criticism in
South Korea that Mr. Lee’s hard-line policy did little to change the
North’s behavior.
During the campaign, however, Ms. Park stuck to Mr. Lee’s stance on the
most contentious issue of large-scale investment, which the North
considers crucial. Ms. Park, like the current president, insisted that
any large-scale economic investments be preceded by the “building of
trust” through progress in curbing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Peace bought with “shoveling” of unrestrained aid under the Sunshine
Policy was “a fake,” she said, citing the North’s long history of using
military threats to win economic concessions.
Earlier, North Korea called her a “confrontational maniac” and
“fascist.” But since her election, it has refrained from attacking her.
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