S. Korea hopes for peace on peninsula<\/p>\n
SEOUL (JP): Barely recovered from the shock of the submarine
\nintrusion from its northern neighbor in September, South Korea is
\ndetermined to continue seeking peace in the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n
\"There is one major task that Korea has yet been unable to
\naccomplish and to which our paramount national efforts will be
\ndirected,\" said Yoo Chong-ha, Senior Secretary to the President
\nfor Foreign Policy and National Security, \"that is the issue of
\nreducing tension, of maintaining peace on the Korea peninsula and
\nof unifying the Korean people.\"<\/p>\n
The secretary was speaking at a congress here last week
\nattended by scholars and leaders from the Asia Pacific.<\/p>\n
Last April President Kim Young-sam and U.S. President Bill
\nClinton proposed 'four-party-talks' to North Korea. The other
\nparty was China.<\/p>\n
So far the proposal has remained merely a proposal.<\/p>\n
Yoo said North Korea has had a minus five percent growth rate
\nfor the past six years and runs its factories at 30 to 40 percent
\nof capacity.<\/p>\n
\"Unless it chooses to discard its hostility against the South,
\nopen up its doors to the outside world, and accept changes not
\nonly for its own survival but also for the peace on the Korean
\npeninsula,\" Yoo said, \"North Korea will collapse.\"<\/p>\n
In a separate interview, Managing Editor of Korea Times Kim
\nMyong-sik also said that there is a big question mark as to how
\nlong the north would survive.<\/p>\n
North Korea has suffered a succession of blows in recent
\nyears. First the fall of the Soviet Union, then the death of its
\nparamount leader Kim Il-sung two years ago and now its economic
\nfailure, he said.<\/p>\n
\"So, when its submarine was detected on our territory everyone
\nwas surprised. We thought the country was dying but militarily it
\nis very strong,\" Kim said.<\/p>\n
This year's harvest in the north is only around half the
\nproduction capacity, he said.<\/p>\n
\"I saw a recent picture of a market in North Korea. There was
\nnothing there. In another place people were bartering clothes for
\ncorn or flour,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Kim said the best thing for North Korea is to gradually move
\nto democracy.<\/p>\n
\"We do not want North Korea to collapse because that would
\nmean all the refugees will come down to us. We'd have to print a
\nlot of money, inflation would go up and people would suffer from
\na devastated economy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Without a gradual change to democracy there will be no hope
\nfor peaceful reunification, he said. (hbk)<\/p>",
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