Lee Jun-seok "It Was Just an Excuse for North Korea Leaflets... Need to Upgrade North Korea Policy"

Lee Jun-seok, former Supreme Council Member of the United Future Party. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Min Jun-young] On the 16th, regarding North Korea's demolition of the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office, Lee Jun-seok, former Supreme Council member of the United Future Party, pointed out, "It has been confirmed that the leaflets sent to North Korea were merely a pretext and not the real issue."

Former Supreme Council member Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 17th and said, "It may be a result-oriented view, but because of that (the leaflets), conflicts arose among political groups within our country, and there was a debate on whether to restrict constitutional fundamental rights or not. In the end, the building was destroyed," he said.

He criticized, "Meanwhile, as revealed this time, on the 15th, a special envoy was proposed but was exposed today. It is being reported as 'they pleaded for a special envoy,' so even though North Korea is a group with no answers, I think it only showed that we were being dragged along."

Then, in response to the host's question, "What can we do?" he argued, "There is a need to upgrade our North Korea policies."

He said, "The Sunshine Policy discourse is the mainstream policy of our country, but it was a strategy designed by President Kim Dae-jung in the early 2000s. At that time, regarding tourism to Mount Kumgang, it was more of a place where the state supported school trips rather than a tourist attraction," and questioned, "Even if we reopen such things, will it really become inter-Korean economic cooperation that satisfies North Korea?"

He added, "Changing the mindset, if the model of the Kaesong Industrial Complex was our companies investing capital and technology in North Korea to do business there, I think it is also possible to accept a form where North Korean workers cross the armistice line to come here."

He also said, "Practical ideas like that need to come out, but even when the inter-Korean railway connection project was underway, the current ruling party often talked about ratifying the Panmunjom Declaration."

Finally, regarding Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, pushing ahead with the partial organization of the 21st National Assembly without bipartisan agreement on the 16th, he evaluated, "I don't know if it was a strategy planned by Floor Leader Kim, but Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is someone who has to negotiate various things together for a year, so this was quite an early rebuke."

He added, "Therefore, this is not appropriate as a negotiation tactic, and so Floor Leader Kim's forceful push like this ultimately reflects some intention from the Blue House."

He concluded, "Looking at the immediate selection of six standing committees, including the National Defense Committee and Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, then they say they will do well on North Korea policy. Then quickly open the plenary session and declare the end of the war."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.