South Korea's Unification Minister Will Talk About Abductees With Pyongyang

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok declared on May 3, “The Korean government is opposed to every attempt to change the North Korean regime,” saying, “When six-party talks resume, we will able to get a hold on resolving counterfeit money and human rights.”

Minister Lee told a forum held at Kwanhun Club, “If the U.S. raised the human rights and financial issues to change the North Korean regime - their views may be different from those of Korea - but I don’t think so.” Lee said, “The six-party talks, fake money and human rights problems are not parallel,” adding, “As the six-party talks are most important of all, if president Kim Dae-jung can play a significant role, I can hope for nothing better than that.”

Asked whether the U.S. policy toward North Korea’s nuclear is changing from “scrapping” to “non-proliferation,” Lee, on a premise that both Korea and the U.S. don’t accept North Korea’s nuclear development, replied, “If the U.S. policy changes to non-proliferation, we can’t agree.” “To dismantle North Korean nuclear is for our national interest and our goal,” he stressed.

Lee’s remarks can be interpreted that he is opposed to a conservative inclination in the U.S. which tries to solve North Korea’s nuclear issues in the range of not spreading it any more and to approach the North Korean problem in a wider frame of regime change.

In the meantime, about the issue of abductees and South Korean war prisoners, Lee explained, “From now on, they won’t be dealt with as agenda of Red Cross talks, and South and North Korea authorities will discuss them,” indicating a plan to form a separate conference. Asked whether he would meet a kidnap victim Megumi Yokota’s father, if he visits Korea, the minister answered, “I have no such a plan and I don’t think it necessary.”

In relation to defector Seo Jae-seok’s allegation that he was oppressed by the South Korean government after he fled from North Korea, he refuted, “As he is a citizen of South Korea, Seo’s exile is nonsense and it is not true.” “President Kim wanted to visit North Korea using a Gyeongeui Line train, he, however, doesn’t regard it as an absolute condition of visiting North Korea,” Lee said.

Yi Yong-in, [e-mail]