Replacement of unification minister signals tougher stance on N. Korea

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak's decision Monday to designate one of his hawkish North Korea policy advisors as new unification minister suggested that his administration would further toughen its stance on Pyongyang regardless of the communist regime's increasingly bellicose threats, analysts said.

Hyun In-taek, a Korea University politics professor set to replace Kim Ha-joong
as Seoul's new pointman on North Korea, used to be a key North Korea advisor to
Lee during his presidential election campaign in 2007. The centerpiece of Lee's
North Korea policy is linking South Korea's economic aid to the denuclearization
of North Korea.
The conservative Lee's hard-line stance has prompted Pyongyang to suspend
inter-Korean dialogue and intensify military threats, as seen in the North's
latest threat of military action issued by its chief of general staff on
Saturday.
"If Professor Hyun takes over the Unification Ministry, the current
'wait-and-see' strategy will likely be further solidified," a North Korea
specialist said on condition of anonymity. "The ministry will likely hold onto
its current principle to wait until North Korea changes its attitude rather than
try to resume dialogue."
Seoul sent no food and fertilizer aid to North Korea last year for the first time
in a decade. Hyun has been a vocal critic of Lee's liberal predecessors who gave
unconditional aid to the North for reconciliation.
Lee has said he will help increase North Korea's per capita income to US$3,000
should Pyongyang abandon its nuclear program, despite the opinion of some critics
that Lee's so-called "Denuclearization, Openness, 3000" campaign is humiliating
for Pyongyang whose key doctrine is "self-reliance." North Korea has called Lee's
campaign "vicious."
The outgoing minister, Kim Ha-joong, walked a tight rope, with his capacity
considerably limited by Lee's unwavering stance. His close relations with China,
after more than six years as Seoul's ambassador to Beijing, did not help draw a
positive response from Pyongyang throughout his 11 months in the Cabinet post.
Kim's ministry further shrank in capacity when Lee suspended tours to the North's
scenic Mount Kumgang in July, following a shooting death of a South Korean
tourist there. In December, Pyongyang expelled hundreds of South Koreans from a
joint industrial complex in a North Korean border city and curtailed border
traffic.
In the latest offensive on Saturday, North Korea's military vowed to take an
"all-out confrontational posture" against the South.
Lee's selection of Hyun drew mixed responses.
"Considering Professor Hyun was the designer of the Lee government's North Korea
policy, he will be able to push forward his views to the president," a senior
official at the Unification Ministry said, requesting anonymity.
Some note, however, Hyun, who specializes in an international politics expert,
has no experience in inter-Korean issues, raising concern that the new minister
may sideline the unique nature of communist North Korea due to demands to abide
by international rules.
"If the appointment of a non-governmental figure as new unification minister is
inevitable, we would prefer a powerful politician" to scholars like Hyun, another
ministry official said.
hkim@yna.co.kr