J-GLOBAL FORUM

Title	Lee Myung-bak outlines plans for N. Korea

Writer	admin	Date	2008-01-08
Grand National presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak yesterday introduced a detailed plan to help North Korea boost its per capita income to $3,000 within 10 years under the condition that Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear program and open up to the international community. In an address yesterday at the J-Global Forum, a two-day conference organized by the JoongAng Ilbo, Lee said that if elected president, he is willing to create an inter-Korean committee that can come up with a reward for the North if it dismantles its nuclear program permanently. “I am going to raise an international cooperation fund worth up to $40 billion that’s entirely to assist the North,” Lee promised. This was Lee’s first time to lay out his North Korean policy since he was elected as the official GNP candidate last month. “We are also going to establish an office for humanitarian help in the North to aid them to recover from floods and to prevent illnesses,” Lee told the audience of academics and journalists. Although Lee said he wanted to continue humanitarian aid, he said the program aimed to eventually help North Korea stand on its own feet. The goal, he said, is to “build a foundation for the kind of peaceful unification that will absorb unification costs and associated social dislocations.” Lee said he opposed President Roh Moo-hyun coming back from next month’s inter-Korean summit with a promise of unilateral aid for the North. “The summit should, first of all, contribute to resolving the North Korean nuclear dilemma in full harmony with the six-party talks framework,” Lee said. Sidestepping the issue of whether a possible Lee administration would honor agreements made during the summit, he said, “Mr. Roh should do something to reduce the burden for the next administration.” South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, speaking later at the same forum, took exception with linking denuclearization to the upcoming summit. The summit and the nuclear issue are related, said Chun Young-woo, “but they should not be directly linked. North Korea will not commit to anything new at the summit.” Chun said the six-party process was working and to demand anything more from the summit “would be an illusion.” When asked how he differed from Roh, Lee joked that he “might be sued again” if he answered honestly. He then claimed that Roh had created a wider gap between the rich and the poor and harmed the economy. He was also asked what he thought about Kim Jong-il. “I don’t want to irritate Kim Jong-il by saying something about him,” he said. “But I will say that he and his family have ruled for a long time. It’s a very unique system.” JoongAng Daily

		Writer
		admin
		Date
		2008-01-08
	

Grand National presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak yesterday introduced a detailed plan to help North Korea boost its per capita income to $3,000 within 10 years under the condition that Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear program and open up to the international community.

In an address yesterday at the J-Global Forum, a two-day conference organized by the JoongAng Ilbo, Lee said that if elected president, he is willing to create an inter-Korean committee that can come up with a reward for the North if it dismantles its nuclear program permanently.

“I am going to raise an international cooperation fund worth up to $40 billion that’s entirely to assist the North,” Lee promised.

This was Lee’s first time to lay out his North Korean policy since he was elected as the official GNP candidate last month.

“We are also going to establish an office for humanitarian help in the North to aid them to recover from floods and to prevent illnesses,” Lee told the audience of academics and journalists.
Although Lee said he wanted to continue humanitarian aid, he said the program aimed to eventually help North Korea stand on its own feet. The goal, he said, is to “build a foundation for the kind of peaceful unification that will absorb unification costs and associated social dislocations.”

Lee said he opposed President Roh Moo-hyun coming back from next month’s inter-Korean summit with a promise of unilateral aid for the North.

“The summit should, first of all, contribute to resolving the North Korean nuclear dilemma in full harmony with the six-party talks framework,” Lee said.

Sidestepping the issue of whether a possible Lee administration would honor agreements made during the summit, he said, “Mr. Roh should do something to reduce the burden for the next administration.”

South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, speaking later at the same forum, took exception with linking denuclearization to the upcoming summit.

The summit and the nuclear issue are related, said Chun Young-woo, “but they should not be directly linked. North Korea will not commit to anything new at the summit.”

Chun said the six-party process was working and to demand anything more from the summit “would be an illusion.”

When asked how he differed from Roh, Lee joked that he “might be sued again” if he answered honestly. He then claimed that Roh had created a wider gap between the rich and the poor and harmed the economy.

He was also asked what he thought about Kim Jong-il.

“I don’t want to irritate Kim Jong-il by saying something about him,” he said. “But I will say that he and his family have ruled for a long time. It’s a very unique system.”

JoongAng Daily

	Former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo at 2007 J-Global Forum

	Dignitaries discuss U.S. role in Asia at J-Global Forum