Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik on Friday used strong rhetoric to criticize the North Korean regime over the issue of North Korean defectors.

“The situation in which North Korean residents cross the border and flee their country should be resolved as soon as possible,” Yu said at a forum in Seoul.

Yu had vowed to take “flexible” North Korean policies when taking office in September, but has started to ramp up Pyongyang-bashing rhetoric since President Lee Myung-bak convened a foreign affairs and security ministers’ meeting on Tuesday. The Lee government had kept a low profile in resolving the North Korean defector issue with China, but recently became vocal, pressing China to stop the repatriations.

At a forum on Thursday, Yu blamed the North Korean regime for the plight of the North Korean defectors, saying the reason North Koreans flee their country is because the North’s authorities failed to feed them and politically persecuted them.

“If Pyongyang makes efforts to help the livelihood of their people and show sincerity, our government is willing to cooperate,” Yu said.

An agreed U.S. delivery of nutritional assistance and China’s food and energy aid to the North will be only a stopgap measure, not enough to fully revive the North Korean economy, he noted.

Yu stressed that it is only the South Korean government and business that can take risks to invest in North Korea.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)