N. Korea claims South is scheming to absorb communist state

SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday accused South Korea of trying to
absorb the communist state, citing President Lee Myung-bak's recent remarks that
his government will pursue reunification with the North on the basis of a market
economy.
The weekly Tongil Sinbo, a government mouthpiece, was referring to a speech Lee
made after a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month, in which
he said Seoul will pursue inter-Korean unification "on the principles of free
democracy and a market economy."
Such remarks are aimed at "breaking down the North's ideology and system to
achieve 'reunification through absorption,' and it is appalling that they came
out of the mouth of Lee Myung-bak," the paper said in an article carried by the
North's official Web site, Uriminzokkiri.
The weekly also blasted Lee's signature North Korea policy, called
"Denuclearization, Openness, 3000," in which his government seeks to raise the
country's per capital income to US$3,000 if it abandons its nuclear program, as
the "basis and destination" of the "absorption" scheme.
Taking office last year, Lee adopted a tougher stance than his liberal
predecessors over the North's nuclear weapons program. His conservative
government also ended unconditional rice and fertilizer aid to the North that had
continued for nearly a decade. Such support continued despite the North's 2006
nuclear test and launching of long range missiles.
Lee's hardline policy won support from conservatives at home, but liberals and
non-governmental groups say his tough stance sent inter-Korean relations
backwards after years of reconciliatory progress.
"What we can obviously learn here is that South Korea's confrontational policy
toward its fellow men will never change as long as Lee Myung-bak is in power,"
the paper said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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