Previous inter-Korean accords too impractical to carry out: ruling party leader

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- The chairman of South Korea's conservative ruling
party on Tuesday denounced as "too unrealistic" the inter-Korean summit accords
signed by the previous administration, rebuking North Korea which demands Seoul's
new government abide by the agreement.
Inter-Korean ties took another bad turn Monday when Pyongyang announced it would
ban South Korean tourists from the border city Kaesong beginning Dec. 1 and also
"selectively" expel South Koreans working at the joint industrial complex there.
It has been threatening to take further steps unless the incumbent Lee Myung-bak
administration drops its hardline stance and fully implements two joint
agreements signed by his liberal predecessors.
"North Korea keeps chiding the Lee government for ignoring the agreement made
between its leader Kim Jong-il and former President Roh Moo-hyun, but in truth,
many of the commitments are too exaggerated and unrealistic to carry out," Park
Hee-tae, chairman of the Grand National Party, said in a radio interview Tuesday.
"Carrying out the deal will cost several tens of trillions of won."
The two stalled accords, struck in 2000 and 2007, call for among other things
expanded economic cooperation and reunion opportunities for families separated by
the 1950-53 Korean War.
Park, close to President Lee and usually soft-spoken, bluntly criticized
Pyongyang's recent measures, claiming the communist regime is "hard to
understand."
"We have been very flexible, making clear we are willing to carry out the
agreements after first discussing which parts can be implemented," he said. "I
just can't understand why North Korea is doing this."
In its latest hostile move against the Lee government, North Korea has also said
it plans to shut down the only cross-border train service with Seoul, halting the
freight train that makes a once-a-day trip between Kaesong and Seoul.
If Pyongyang carries out its threats, it will jeopardize operations at the
Kaesong Industrial Complex, seen as the last remaining symbol of reconciliation
after tours to Mount Geumgang were suspended in July following the shooting death
of a South Korean tourist there.
Park held North Korea's shooting of the South Korean tourist "fully accountable"
for the chilling relations.
"Things have been turning bad ever since," he said.
"Unless North Korea shows full commitment to denuclearization, our support will
be limited to humanitarian aid," Park added. "It cannot ask for full economic
cooperation or support under the current circumstances."
Relations between the two Koreas have soured since the conservative Lee took
office in Seoul in February.
Breaking with the "sunshine" policy of engagement pushed by 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.
North Korea issued the threats ahead of the six-party nuclear disarmament talks
slated for early next month. The talks have been faltering lately due to
disagreement between Pyongyang and Washington over the methods of verifying North
Korea's nuclear declaration.
The two Koreas, which technically remain at war, are both members of the
aid-for-denuclearization talks along with China, Japan, Russia and the United
States.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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