Thursday, January 30, 2003
DJ MAKES IT OFFICIAL: The ROK President did facilitate some $200 being sent to North Korea in advance of the Nobel Prize securing historic 2000 Kim-Kim summit in P'yongyang. DJ's defense:
And this understatement sums it up:
Will this make continuing the sunshine policy toward the DPRK more difficult for Roh Moo-hyun? Probably not.
President Kim, through a spokeswoman, defended the funds transfer as justified "for inter-Korean economic projects and sustained development of inter-Korean friendship."
For that reason, President Kim said, "legal punishment" for the secret transaction would be "inappropriate." The case, he went on, should not stop efforts at reconciliation or "damage relations" between North and South Korea.
And this understatement sums it up:
"This is just the beginning of this whole investigation," the Unification Ministry official said. "It's a big burden for the outgoing president. It's like a Pandora's box. Nobody wants to open it."
Will this make continuing the sunshine policy toward the DPRK more difficult for Roh Moo-hyun? Probably not.
