Lee sets military disarmament of Korean Peninsula as key policy

SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- The government of President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday unveiled a list of 20 strategic policy goals and 100 detailed policy tasks, placing its top foreign and security priority on building inter-Korean military confidence to push for arms control on the Korean Peninsula.

Simultaneously with inter-Korean military disarmament, the Lee government will
seek to create a new peace regime on the peninsula through the dismantling of
North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said
in a press release.
"Lee remains unchanged in his bid to help North Korea raise its per capita income
to US$3,000 in a decade and resolve pending inter-Korean humanitarian issues on
the heels of its denuclearization and market opening," said the statement.
The list of 100 major policy tasks is a revised and complemented version of Lee's
pre-inauguration list of 193 major policy tasks made public weeks before Lee's
inauguration on Feb. 25. Cheong Wa Dae officials explained the final list
reflects changing policy circumstances following Lee's inauguration.
With regard to the South Korea-U.S. alliance, the Cheong Wa Dae statement said
that bilateral relations will be developed in accordance with the new security
environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula.
Specifically, the Lee government is determined to reevaluate and complement a
2006 bilateral agreement calling for South Korea to reclaim wartime operational
control of its forces from the U.S. by 2012, it noted.
"The Lee government will give impetus to the National Defense Reform 2020 project
calling for transforming the Korean military into a technology-based military
structure, while seeking to turn the defense industry into a new economic growth
engine," said the statement.
"In the diplomatic field, the South Korean government will diversify its free
trade agreement partners and beef up its diplomatic activities in the areas of
energy, human rights, culture and other global issues."
Notably, Lee eliminated his campaign pledge to build a pan-Korea waterway from
the list of his strategic policy tasks in the face of unfavorable public opinion.
Lee's other key policy tasks outside the security and diplomatic fields are
mostly focused on improving administrative efficiency, establishing legal and
social order, revitalizing the market economy through further deregulation,
promoting green growth, enhancing the welfare of ordinary people and fostering
future-oriented talented workers.
In social areas, the key policy tasks included stricter enforcement of the law,
improvement of the fiscal soundness of provincial governments, rooting out
corruption of civil servants, protection of intellectual property rights,
expanding pension benefits for the elderly and creating more jobs for youth and
women.
In terms of the economy, the priority tasks included enforcement of massive tax
cuts to stimulate corporate investment and consumption, creation of a win-win
culture between labor and management, deregulation of broadcasting and
telecommunications businesses, creating a business environment friendly to
foreign investors and the development of clean and renewable energy sources.
Lee has repeatedly stressed that he will promote job creation and overcome
challenges from climate change and sky-high oil prices by utilizing green
technology and clean energy as new economic growth locomotives.
The president has publicly declared his determination to drastically upgrade the
value of South Korea's national brand and its economic assistance to
underdeveloped countries and expand the nation's peacekeeping activities abroad
in accordance with its growing international status.
His previous pledge to send upwards of 100,000 young Korean people abroad to give
them opportunities to work, learn and do volunteer service overseas was included
in the 100 policy tasks.