Will Park ease sanctions on NK?

Speculation grew Wednesday over whether President-elect Park Geun-hye is mulling whether to ease cross-border sanctions on North Korea in order to encourage dialogue with the isolated state.

Reports said the sanctions implemented by the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration after Pyongyang’s deadly 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship, were under consideration by Park’s transition team.

But Yun Byung-se, a close Park aide who is on the team’s foreign affairs, defense and unification committee, said the reports were groundless but added the issue could be addressed during a press briefing.

Yonhap News Agency earlier quoted Yun as saying about the sanctions, “We’ll have to look at the overall picture later on, but in the last stage, there will be an outline.”

The sanctions, which halted nearly trade with and aid deliveries to the North, remain largely intact. The current administration began easing the sanctions in 2011 to allow some civic groups here to deliver goods such as flour across the border.

Park, who will take power later next month, has said she will take a more moderate stance than incumbent Lee Myung-bak. She says dealing with the North requires a tough line, but calls for dialogue at others.

A notable exception to the measures has been South Korean travel to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), a reconciliatory project in the North that has operated without interruption. Combining Southern management with Northern labor, the GIC has been viewed as a communication channel by Seoul and a valuable income source by Pyongyang .

At least one other member of the subcommittee, Choi Dae-seok has been outspoken about the sanctions. The academic said last year in a journal that measures have hurt South Korean businesses operating at the GIC and advocated their repeal to help forge better ties for the next generation.

In a rare New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un indicated that his regime is open to test reengagement, urging the sides to put front and center “the great national cause of reunifying the country…by holding fast to the ideals of independence, peace and friendship.”

Analysts said the move intends to gauge Seoul’s willingness for greater interaction at a time when its economy is in bad need of capital if the regime intends to continue modernizing its economy. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>