Roundup: DPRK-S.Korea Clash Challenges 'Sunshine Policy'

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 in Seoul 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.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2002)