Entering her fourth year in office， President Park shifts inter－Korean policy

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• published: 27 Feb 2016
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박근혜정부3년 - 통일 분야 기조변화와 과제 President Park Geun-hye has entered her fourth year in office, and to mark the occasion, we have been bringing you a series of special reports. In the final of our five-part series, we take a look at how President Park's handling of inter-Korean affairs has shifted with the continued provocations from North Korea. Our unification ministry correspondent Connie Kim has this report. At the start of her term, President Park Geun-hye offered a vision for the reunification of the two Koreas. In her new year's press conference in 2014, she delivered a strong message on reunification. "I believe reunification in one word is a bonanza." Later that year, in Dresden, a symbolic city for German reunification, President Park laid out her plan for Korean reunification in three major areas: humanitarianism, integration and prosperity. She also launched a presidential reunification preparation committee later in the year. Over the next two years, Seoul moved forward with inter-Korean cultural and assistance projects to improve relations with Pyongyang, even as tensions between the two Koreas spiked in August 2015, when land mines on the border planted by North Korea exploded, injuring two South Korean soldiers. And a landmark inter-Korean agreement reached after the conflict seemed to push relations between the two Koreas in a new direction, with a new round of family reunions seeming to offer hope for the future. “However, with North Korea's nuclear test and long-range missile launch, President Park has made clear that inter-Korean relations will only improve when Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons program. It marks a sizable shift to a more hard-line stance against the North.” That shift was evident in the president's decision to shut down the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex,... which is the most drastic step to contain the North the president has taken so far. And she's warned there are more sanctions to come. "It has now become clear that the past ways of coping with North Korea cannot curb its nuclear ambitions but will only serve to strengthen the North's nuclear capability resulting in a catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula." Most North Korea watchers say Pyongyang's repeated provocations have tested the limits of President Park's trust-building initiative. "There is a limit to what you can do to push for security on the Korean peninsula and build inter-Korean cooperation... while North Korea continues its nuclear and missile development. This imbalance has been raised as a fundamental problem with her trustpolitk." But just as out of every crisis, opportunity arises,… experts say this is the time to review policies that could improve relations. "Talks with North Korea after an escalation in tensions will be inevitable for as long as the regime exists. The Park administration should not rule out the possibility of holding dialogue with the reclusive regime when reviewing its North Korea policies." Whether President Park is able to strike a balance between security and cooperation, between punishment and dialogue, in her North Korea policy... is a question that will be answered when her term comes to an end in 2018. Connie Kim, Arirang News. Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld