S. Korea to draft reunification plan that protects fiscal soundness

By Kim Kwang-tae SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea said Thursday Seoul will draft a plan on how to finance the potential unification with Pyongyang without undermining fiscal soundness. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek also said in a report to lawmakers that the draft plan will be made in a way that would minimize the burden on low-income families. His comments came a week after a state-run think tank estimated that the initial costs for the integration of the two Koreas could vary from 55 trillion won (US$50 billion) to 249 trillion won ($229 billion). The estimate, which is projected to cover the first year of integration, was based on the assumption that the two neighbors could be unified two decades from now, according to the Korea Institute for National Unification. South Korea plans to announce its draft plan this month after consulting with related ministries. Seoul has been working on details of a so-called unification tax since last year when President Lee Myung-bak floated the idea of using taxpayer money to cushion the cost of unification. The move has angered Pyongyang, which has long suspected that Seoul could be plotting to absorb its impoverished northern neighbor. Lee has said unification with North Korea is a must, not a matter of choice. Still, there are no signs that the two Koreas, divided for nearly six decades, could be reunited anytime soon, given Seoul's animosity toward the North over its two deadly attacks on the South last year.