Opposition leader demands Lee reconsider hard-line policy on N. Korea

By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition leader on Thursday urged President
Lee Myung-bak to reconsider his tough stance on North Korea to ensure peace on
the Korean Peninsula.
He also vowed to employ all means possible, including physical force, to press
the government to scale down its costly and contentious four-river refurbishment
project, cancel planned tax cuts for the wealthy and launch a parliamentary probe
into illegal surveillance of civilians.
"We must avoid a war in any case," Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the liberal
Democratic Party (DP), said in a press conference at the National Assembly.
Lee "should fully reconsider his hard-line policy toward the North and employ
overpowering means of military deterrence on one hand and means of dialogue and
compromise on the other," Sohn said, urging the president to accept China's
proposal to resume six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea.
Inter-Korean relations have fallen to their lowest ebb in decades after North
Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island last week, just south of the tense Yellow Sea
border, killing four people.
Sohn has blamed the attack on the government's tough stance and denial of a
"sunshine policy" of engagement adopted by former liberal administrations.
The DP leader, however, warned the North against provocations similar to its
deadly shelling of the South Korean border island.
"If the North will break peace on the peninsula and ignite a war, the entire
people will fight till the last moment to defend their fatherland," he said.
On the domestic front, Sohn declared a war against the river refurbishment
project, tax cuts for the wealthy and to have the parliament scrutinize
suspicions that the government illegally probed civilians critical of the
government.
"I declare that it will fight till the end without any measure on the demands
that can convince the people," he said.
He said his party will employ even physical forces to block the parliamentary
passage of the budget bill unless a chunk of the money set aside for the river
project is diverted to national defense and to welfare.
"We cannot approve the budget proposal as it is, at any cost, and will use even
physical forces to oppose it," he said.
The government has proposed a 309.6 trillion won budget (US$274.5 billion) for
2011, approximately a 6 percent increase from this year. But the DP is aiming for
a reduction of 11.3 trillion won, making cuts in virtually every major sector
related to the river refurbishment project.
The state is pushing to allocate 9.6 trillion won next year for the refurbishment
project -- which the Lee administration says will help prevent floods and enhance
water quality, but opposition parties, joined by environmentalists and some
religious groups, charge will cause disaster to the nation's ecosystem.
As part of its efforts, the DP occupied the chairman's seat during a session of
the parliamentary committee on land and maritime affairs to stop the ruling party
from submitting bills aimed at giving legal guarantees to the river project.
On Sunday, the party plans to hold an outdoor rally along with other opposition
parties and civic activists in central Seoul denouncing the development project.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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