SEOUL, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The "Sunshine Policy" initiated by
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was once again in trouble owing to the
armed clash last week between warships of South Korea and the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the Yellow Sea, analysts here said.
The inter-Korean relations were relaxed after the historic summit
in Pyongyang between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and DPRK leader
Kim Jong Il, on June 13-15, 2000. The South Korean leader proposed the
"Sunshine Policy" to promote dialogue with Pyongyang for settlement of
Korean Peninsula issues.
But the peace process on the Korean Peninsula has been stalemated
since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in January and labeled the
DPRK as part of the "axis of evil" in his State of the Union speech.
The armed clashes, which occurred on June 29 to the southwest of
Yonpyong Island in the Yellow Sea, dealt another blow to the sound
development of North-South relations.
The DPRK blames South Korea for causing the armed clash, claiming
that the South Korean fleet and more than 10 fishing boats intruded into
the territorial waters of the DPRK, to the southwest of Yonpyong Island in
the Yellow Sea, and fired at the DPRK People's Navy, which was on a
regular guard mission.
In the wake of the armed clash, the South Korean conservative Grand
National Party (GNP) on Wednesday said it would propose a non-confidence
motion on Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin and other top military leaders
unless President Kim sacks them, claiming the defense minister and his
colleagues responded "passively" to last week's naval clash, which left
four South Korean servicemen dead, one missing and 19 others injured when
the two sides exchanged fire.
However, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae refused the GNP's
call for Kim Dong-shin's dismissal.
Moreover, Lee Hoi-chang, GNP's candidate for the coming general
elections at the end of this year, urged the government to "re-examine"
its "Sunshine Policy" toward the DPRK and halt inter-Korean cooperation
programs.
The government should cancel financial aid to the DPRK and suspend
a set of inter-Korean exchange programs such as the Mountain Geumgang
tourism business project, Lee said.
The GNP holds 130 seats in South Korea's 260-member
parliament,while President Kim's Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) holds
111 seats.
Some MDP members also challenged Kim's DPRK policy, claiming that
the "Sunshine Policy" which favors inter-Korean rapprochement projects
should be changed.
The government talked back by arguing it was not time to discuss
such issues. "If something happens, it is important to resolve the matter
with a sense of responsibility," presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-sook
said.
Amid complaints of some political groups, President Kim's "Sunshine
Policy" seemed to face another drawback when the United States, in
response to last week's North-South clash, announced on Wednesday that it
would cancel the planned trip of an envoy to the DPRK in the second week
of July.
The South Korean government, which is worried that the clash could
hinder the dialogue process between Pyongyang and Washington, planned to
send an envoy to the United States after July 4 Independence Day to
persuade Washington to continue its talks with Pyongyang, a senior
government official said.
In contrast with a chorus of opposition, some South Korean experts
on inter-Korean relations voiced their support for the sunshine policy,
the country's English-language paper Korea Times reported.
"The Inter-Korean project continued in 1999 when a similar naval
clash occurred and there is no reason to stop the project," said Lee
Jong-seok, a research fellow of the Sejong Institute, a private think
tank.
"The principle of the sunshine policy within a big framework should
be kept intact," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor from the Dongguk
University. "If the policy is suspended now, it would be difficult for
South Korea to move forward."
"The sunshine policy should, in principle, continue because there
is no alternative," said Michael Breen, an expert on Korean affairs.
Enditem
--by Wang Mian
