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Saenuri proposes joint declaration over NLL

By Song Sang-ho

Ruling Saenuri Party leader Rep. Hwang Woo-yea proposed Friday for his party and opposition parties to issue a joint declaration to demonstrate their will to safeguard the Northern Limit Line as a territorial boundary.

The proposal came as political strife escalated after the National Intelligence Service on Monday revealed the transcript of a 2007 inter-Korean summit. The party accused former President Roh Moo-hyun of having renounced the NLL during the meeting with his counterpart Kim Jong-il.

“The NLL is no longer an issue of diplomacy, but of territorial sovereignty. I propose we quickly forge our consensus as it is an issue of our nation’s existence and survival being at stake,” Hwang told a press conference.

“Adopting the joint declaration would help unite the public opinion and clarify our positions over the historical truth, and will offer a chance to reflect on ourselves.”

Hwang and other Saenuri leaders visited Baengnyeongdo Island, one of the western frontline islands near the NLL, for the party’s Supreme Council meeting in an apparent bid to underscore the sovereignty aspect of the NLL dispute.

Hwang’s proposal for the joint declaration appeared intended to mitigate the main opposition Democratic Party’s offensive against the disclosure of the transcripts, observers said.

Seventy-four DP lawmakers renewed their calls to hold an extraordinary parliamentary session next month to get to the bottom of the late former liberal leader’s disputed remarks over the NLL.

They also demanded NIS director Nam Jae-joon step down, alleging that the spy agency tempered with the presidential records for the benefit of the ruling bloc.

“NIS director Nam should resign, taking responsibility for disclosing the transcripts that have been illicitly warped and interfering with politics,” the DUP lawmakers told a press conference. “We will mobilize whatever it takes to uncover the truth behind the former and incumbent governments’ illegal politicking.”

Meanwhile, DP Rep. Moon Jae-in, who served as chief of staff to former President Roh, denied the news reports that Roh handed over reports containing national secrets to late former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during their 2007 summit.

On his Twitter account, he said that the reports are about inter-Korean economic cooperation and a vision for a community encompassing the two Koreas. Referring to the news reports, he also pointed out, “There are strange people who always imagine things in a malicious way.”

“During the summit (in Pyongyang), our goal was an economic cooperation that could spread northward. The reports encapsulated our side’s demands regarding the goal, and specified details of firms that could join the cooperation project,” said Moon.

In the disclosed excerpts of the 2007 inter-Korean summit, Roh was not cited as renouncing the NLL. But he told the autocratic leader in Pyongyang that the NLL should be shifted and encompassed under a map of peace and economy.

Despite the ambiguity of Roh’s remarks, the Saenuri upped its offensive against the liberal bloc, arguing Roh had apparently given up the NLL as a de facto maritime border.

(sshluck@heraldcorp.com)