Left Flank

Scott Snyder sets the stage for Lee Myung-bak's inauguration on February 25 with a well-balanced introduction. One small detail: the Sunshine policy really is not dead.

In some respects, the inter-Korean relationship will be starting over again under Lee Myung-bak, who has been willing to publicly criticize the North on human rights grounds—a taboo under the Roh administration—and has demanded the North's denuclearization as a precondition for his Vision 3000 policy that offers a generous financial and technical support package for North Korea's development. However, food and fertilizer assistance have already been declared exempt from this requirement, in contrast to the Roh administration's decision to withhold fertilizer assistance in 2007 until the North finally began in June to implement the February 13, 2007 agreement.

Thus far, signs are that while Lee Myung-bak supports continued inter-Korean engagement, the priority attached to North Korean issues will be lowered considerably compared to predecessor administrations that had elevated inter-Korean relations as a policy priority. Cuts in the budget for inter-Korean cooperation and the envisioned government reorganization that abolishes the Ministry of Unification suggest that Lee Myung-bak does not intend to make relations with North Korea a policy priority. North Korea more than anything does not like to be ignored.

Aside from undermining the Unification Ministry (but not abolishing, probably due mostly to partisan pressures, not pro-Sunshine sentiments) and some rhetorical flourishes about human rights, what has really changed? Kaesong and humanitarian aid are as much a part of the Sunshine policy as President Roh's rhetorical support and policy prioritization.

Indeed, as NK Econ Watch reports, that as ROK investment continues to flow north, "…some DPRK factories appear to returning to normal manufacturing operations." It seems as if hot air is as much a habit of the South Korean left, gnashing its teeth about the end of Sunshine, as of the conservatives, thumping their chests indignantly. The Lee administration might become the ablest practitioner of the Sunshine arts.