Senior Presidential Secretary for Diplomacy and Security Lim Seong-joon criticized, Thursday, Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang's comments on clause two of the June 15, 2000 Joint declaration, which he stated needed revising. Secretary Lim said the North Korean suggested system for unification was closer to South Korea's proposed confederation, not the reverse as suggested by Lee.
MDP presidential candidate Roh Mu-hyun also criticized Lee at a workshop of party members, saying Lee's statement was unreasonable and revealed his wish to keep the countries separated.
GNP Spokesman Nam Kyung-pil responded the party had to be concerned that North Korea kept claiming Seoul had agreed to a federal system, which was their plan. Nam continued that Lee merely raised concern on this danger, and if the MDP insisted on its claims it should explain whether it accepted the North's system.
Cheong Wa Dae and the MDP claim that Pyongyang's version of a "low level federation system" means that the two countries maintain separate governments, diplomatic and defense systems, which is Seoul's approach. However, on May 21, Radio Pyongyang said clause two was an agreement to its federal system, a merging of the two countries completely.
(Choi Byung-mook, bmchoi@chosun.com)
