Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang told a Broadcasting Reporters Club, Friday, that if elected president he would be open to dialogue with his "counterpart" North Korea's Kim Jong Il to promote peace and co-prosperity on the peninsula. However, Lee noted that Kim had unilaterally cancelled ministerial meetings after the Pyongyang Summit, and so had doubts as to whether he was a sincere partner for negotiations.
When asked if Kim should apologize for past events if he visited Seoul, Lee commented he had never said this was a precondition, but should the visit come to pass, it would be a chance to discuss this among other things, and he could apologize then.
With regard to clause two of the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration, Lee said the visions of unification of the two countries were so different, so if he was elected he would closely review this. North Korea has been claiming that clause two is a de facto agreement that the visions were the same.
He condemned the government and its supporters for refusing to accept any criticism of its sunshine and unification policies, adding that their labeling of critics as anti-unification Cold War diehards was anachronistic dogma.
Lee said if any cover-up of his son's military service exemption was discovered, or allegations of him receiving US$200,000 from Choi Kyu-sun were proven true, then he would quit politics and resign his candidacy.
(Yoon Jong-ho, jhyoon@chosun.com)
