Appeasement Still Valid, Governemnt Emphasizes

Although the antagonistic North Korea, once again, was caught attempting to infiltrate South Korea on December 17, no form of revenge or counterattack will occur, the government emphasized on December 18.
The basic appeasement policy towards North Korea, called the 'Sunshine Policy', under the Kim Dae Jung administration will not be shaken nor altered; Government officials stressed this point.
The government intends to maintain a separation of politics from economics, although it will officially protest the action through government channels.
This means the Mt. Kumgang tour program and other economic exchanges will carry on. No clearer symbol of this was the Hyundai Bongrae ship starting towards North Korean for the Kumgang tour as scheduled on December 18.
A source from the government said, 'These kinds of attacks will continuously happen and we cannot cancel the trip everytime they occur.'
Like it or not, for the time being the relationship between the two Koreas will maintain peaceful cooperation economically while remaining belligerent and tense militarily. It is a transitional period in North-South relations.