President: Poor economy in North limits unification

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations Monday in New York. By Cho Mun-gyu

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said yesterday the North Korean economy first has to improve before the two Koreas can consider unification, saying peace on the peninsula remains the first priority.

Speaking at the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he is to attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, Lee said it may be difficult for the divided Koreas to reunite because of the large economic chasm separating them.

“Unification with North Korea is important, but it’s more important for the two Koreas to live in peace,” Lee said in the question-and-answer session at a luncheon. “The economic gap is too substantial for unification now. One-third of North Koreans are starving. That’s why we’re prepared to help North Korea if it gives up on nuclear weapons.”

Lee was referring to his “grand bargain” proposal, in which North Korea would receive security assurances and economic aid in exchange for dismantlement of nuclear capabilities. Lee broached the idea in a speech before the Q&A session. Its text in Korean was made available for the press before his actual speech.

The South Korean president also said the quality of life for both Korean peoples would greatly improve if their countries could both reduce their defense spending. But Lee stressed that the South wants “a peaceful process, not the violent type that we saw from Yemen or the hasty one from the two Germanies.”

For all the talk of unification, Lee said the nuclear issue remained at the top of the agenda.

“Regarding North Korea, we have the nuclear question, plus issues of weapons of mass destruction and human rights,” he said. “But if we resolve the nuclear problem, then I think the rest [of them] will simply take care of themselves. Thus, we want to first deal with the nuclear matter and then move on to others.

“The international community should try to persuade the North [to abandon its nuclear program],” Lee added. “I think this may be the last chance for North Korea, though they may think otherwise. But the rest of the world shares an understanding on [the importance of] denuclearization and I expect to see some accomplishments in that regard.”

North Korea recently claimed that its experimental uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons development had entered the final phase and that it was producing more weapons from extracted plutonium. While the plutonium program has been discussed publicly for years, the uranium program had mostly been clandestine, with analysts and experts offering different takes on the extent to which it had progressed.

Lee said any negotiations with North Korea must take place with “the worst-case scenario in mind.” He also said it’s “possible” that North Korea may have exchanged its nuclear technologies with other states.

For its part, the North has hinted at willingness to discuss its nuclear program. The country’s leader Kim Jong-il said on Friday, in a message to China, that the North was “willing to resolve the relevant [nuclear] problems through bilateral and multilateral talks.” The United States is also mulling over a bilateral meeting with the North after Pyongyang extended an invitation.

By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]