S. Korea hopes for peace on peninsula

S. Korea hopes for peace on peninsula

SEOUL (JP): Barely recovered from the shock of the submarine
intrusion from its northern neighbor in September, South Korea is
determined to continue seeking peace in the Korean peninsula.

"There is one major task that Korea has yet been unable to
accomplish and to which our paramount national efforts will be
directed," said Yoo Chong-ha, Senior Secretary to the President
for Foreign Policy and National Security, "that is the issue of
reducing tension, of maintaining peace on the Korea peninsula and
of unifying the Korean people."

The secretary was speaking at a congress here last week
attended by scholars and leaders from the Asia Pacific.

Last April President Kim Young-sam and U.S. President Bill
Clinton proposed 'four-party-talks' to North Korea. The other
party was China.

So far the proposal has remained merely a proposal.

Yoo said North Korea has had a minus five percent growth rate
for the past six years and runs its factories at 30 to 40 percent
of capacity.

"Unless it chooses to discard its hostility against the South,
open up its doors to the outside world, and accept changes not
only for its own survival but also for the peace on the Korean
peninsula," Yoo said, "North Korea will collapse."

In a separate interview, Managing Editor of Korea Times Kim
Myong-sik also said that there is a big question mark as to how
long the north would survive.

North Korea has suffered a succession of blows in recent
years. First the fall of the Soviet Union, then the death of its
paramount leader Kim Il-sung two years ago and now its economic
failure, he said.

"So, when its submarine was detected on our territory everyone
was surprised. We thought the country was dying but militarily it
is very strong," Kim said.

This year's harvest in the north is only around half the
production capacity, he said.

"I saw a recent picture of a market in North Korea. There was
nothing there. In another place people were bartering clothes for
corn or flour," he said.

Kim said the best thing for North Korea is to gradually move
to democracy.

"We do not want North Korea to collapse because that would
mean all the refugees will come down to us. We'd have to print a
lot of money, inflation would go up and people would suffer from
a devastated economy," he said.

Without a gradual change to democracy there will be no hope
for peaceful reunification, he said. (hbk)