ID :
21307
Fri, 09/26/2008 - 10:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21307
The shortlink copeid
Seoul's tumult over N.K. leader's health unwise: former N.K. official
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- It is rude and unwise for South Korea to make a noisy issue out of the North Korean leader's health, Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea, said in a policy meeting in Seoul on Thursday.
Speculation has been swirling since Seoul's intelligence officials said two weeks ago that the 66-year-old Kim Jong-il is recovering from a stroke that he suffered
last month. The high-profile leader has not been seen in public since Aug. 14.
"I cannot understand the hurly-burly here over the North Korean leader's health,"
said Hwang, a former secretary of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party. "It makes
South Korea look weak and rash to get all rattled by reports that Kim simply
suffered an illness."
"We express condolences even if an enemy's leader is sick or dead. North Korea is
not even our enemy. It's our brother."
The outside world, including South Korea, has been keenly interested in the
health of Kim due to his country's ongoing nuclear ambitions. The North has been
backpedaling from a six-party deal, under which it is obligated to dismantle its
nuclear programs in return for aid. Kim is known to have slightly recovered, but
not well enough to freely move his limbs.
Hwang also criticized the South Korean government for its hesitance in sending
food aid to the impoverished North.
"North Korean civilians must be regarded separately from the regime," he told the
meeting hosted by the minority Liberal Forward Party. "We are responsible for
starving those people."
Seoul's seven-month-old Lee Myung-bak government has yet to decide whether to
provide the food aid amid chilled inter-Korean ties and Pyongyang's recent
retreat from the 2007 denuclearization deal.
Previous South Korean administrations led by liberal presidents sent
approximately 400,000 tons of food to the North every year. Direct food relief
shipments have been suspended since the inauguration of the conservative Lee.
Hwang, 85, has recently been allowed by the South Korean government to travel
abroad freely, more than a decade after seeking asylum in 1997. His defection had
strained inter-Korean ties.
Meanwhile, parliament has requested Hwang to appear for a foreign affairs session
slated for Oct. 7, officials said Thursday.
"Lawmakers agreed that it would be good to hear Hwang's opinion on various North
Korean issues, including the leader's health and possible power vacuum," said
Hwang Jin-ha, a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- It is rude and unwise for South Korea to make a noisy issue out of the North Korean leader's health, Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea, said in a policy meeting in Seoul on Thursday.
Speculation has been swirling since Seoul's intelligence officials said two weeks ago that the 66-year-old Kim Jong-il is recovering from a stroke that he suffered
last month. The high-profile leader has not been seen in public since Aug. 14.
"I cannot understand the hurly-burly here over the North Korean leader's health,"
said Hwang, a former secretary of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party. "It makes
South Korea look weak and rash to get all rattled by reports that Kim simply
suffered an illness."
"We express condolences even if an enemy's leader is sick or dead. North Korea is
not even our enemy. It's our brother."
The outside world, including South Korea, has been keenly interested in the
health of Kim due to his country's ongoing nuclear ambitions. The North has been
backpedaling from a six-party deal, under which it is obligated to dismantle its
nuclear programs in return for aid. Kim is known to have slightly recovered, but
not well enough to freely move his limbs.
Hwang also criticized the South Korean government for its hesitance in sending
food aid to the impoverished North.
"North Korean civilians must be regarded separately from the regime," he told the
meeting hosted by the minority Liberal Forward Party. "We are responsible for
starving those people."
Seoul's seven-month-old Lee Myung-bak government has yet to decide whether to
provide the food aid amid chilled inter-Korean ties and Pyongyang's recent
retreat from the 2007 denuclearization deal.
Previous South Korean administrations led by liberal presidents sent
approximately 400,000 tons of food to the North every year. Direct food relief
shipments have been suspended since the inauguration of the conservative Lee.
Hwang, 85, has recently been allowed by the South Korean government to travel
abroad freely, more than a decade after seeking asylum in 1997. His defection had
strained inter-Korean ties.
Meanwhile, parliament has requested Hwang to appear for a foreign affairs session
slated for Oct. 7, officials said Thursday.
"Lawmakers agreed that it would be good to hear Hwang's opinion on various North
Korean issues, including the leader's health and possible power vacuum," said
Hwang Jin-ha, a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)
