Opposition leader calls for new tack on N. Korea policy

(ATTN: REPHRASES para 2 for clarity; ADDS details in para 7)
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's main opposition party leader on Thursday
urged President Lee Myung-bak to "completely alter" his North Korea policy,
claiming Seoul's ambiguous position is damaging inter-Korean ties.
The remarks by Chung Sye-kyun, chairman of the Democratic Party, came a day after
North Korea threatened to partially close passages across the countries' shared
border, further chilling already icy relations with the conservative Lee
government.
Closing the inter-Korean border will effectively suspend operations at a joint
industrial complex on the outskirts of the North Korean town of Kaesong, the last
remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation efforts after tours to North
Korea's Mount Geumgang were suspended in July following a shooting death there.
"The people of Korea feel seriously threatened by the government's immature
policy toward the North, which has done nothing but increase tension between the
two Koreas," Chung said at an unscheduled press briefing Thursday.
"We ask the government to make the critical decision right now and start setting
up from scratch a new North Korea policy," Chung said. "From the start, the Lee
government should make clear it will respect and carry out the two historic
inter-Korean accords."
Chung's party has been demanding the Lee government make efforts to implement the
two major joint accords, struck in 2000 and 2007, which call for expanded
economic cooperation and reunion opportunities for families separated by the
1950-53 Korean War.
Lee's office, meanwhile, stepped up criticism of North Korea's threat, warning
that it "should not misunderstand the diplomatic circumstances." South Korea and
the U.S. will continue to closely cooperate even after the new U.S. leader Barack
Obama takes office, it said.
Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have been strained since Lee took office in
late February.
Taking a tougher position toward the nuclear-armed state than his predecessors,
President Lee has made clear on several occasions that his government will not
expand inter-Korean cooperation projects until North Korea abandons all of its
nuclear ambitions.
Experts suspect the North's most recent threat is aimed at gaining diplomatic
concessions from Seoul.
North Korea opened Kaesong to South Korean tourists and businesses under Seoul's
previous government, which sought to transform the North through such
market-oriented projects.
The two Koreas are technically still at war as the Korean War ended in a
ceasefire, not a formal peace treaty.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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