South Korean President Park Geun Hye hinted on Monday during
her second unification preparatory committee meeting that Seoul may be looking into
easing or lifting the so-called May 24th sanctions against Pyongyang.
“The South and North need to meet and engage in sincere
dialogue to resolve the issue,” the president said, referring to the sanctions
implemented after the 2010 sinking of the Cheonan naval corvette by Pyongyang.
“Through high-level talks, the two sides should use this as an opportunity to
improve inter-Korean ties,” she added.
“As there is a saying that even during times of war dialogue
is necessary, communication must continue in order to reduce tensions and work
towards the establishment of peace,” the president emphasized. “The South
Korean government will be firm in the face of provocations from the North but
keep the door open for dialogue and work to establish peace.”
These remarks came amid recent cross-border fire when the North fired machine gun rounds at a device carrying
propaganda leaflets sent by anti-North Korean regime civic groups in the South, to which the South fired back after some of the shots landed on the southern side. The announcement suggests there is room for discussion on the May 24th sanctions, leading
to further attention on how the North will respond.
Some speculate the sanctions will be discussed at the second
round of high-level talks between the two countries expected to take place at
the end of this month or early November.
However, the president did directly address the two recent
incidents with North Korea. “With a high-ranking delegation visiting
Incheon, and the following agreement to reopen talks, people in the South had
hopes of seeing an improvement in inter-Korean ties,” she said. “But with the
two shootings at the Northern Limit Line [NLL, the de-facto maritime border
between the two Koreas] and at the truce line, once again tension has mounted.
Inter-Korean relations up until now have always displayed such dual aspects.”
The president also shared future goals and activities for
the unification preparatory committee. ▲ Devise specific plans to build an
ecological peace park in the demilitarized zone [DMZ] ▲ prepare to draw up
charter for peaceful unification ▲ push forward measures to improve the quality
of life for North Koreans ▲ engage with neighboring countries to achieve
peaceful unification on the Korean Peninsula.
For construction of the DMZ peace park, President Park
emphasized, “We must start reviewing potential locations for the peace park and
actively help the North so that it can take part in jointly developing plans
for the basic mapping out, clearing up of surrounding roads, and more.”
In regards to creating a peaceful unification charter, she
ordered members to “work on specific and realistic content, such as what people
will need to do during the process of unification and what values and vision
should be pursued after unification.”
The president also spoke on improving the quality of lives
of North Koreans, saying, “In the case of the medical field, take things one
step forward from existing aid of medical supplies, and come up with measures
on providing a healthcare system that involves things like medical equipment
and facilities that can be reviewed.”
