Overigens is het in Oost Azie zeer belangrijk wie er wel of niet aanwezig zijn op een begrafenis... De voorstanders van de Sunshine Policy wilden zeer zeker aanwezig zijn, maar de huidige regering stond dit niet toe en liet maar 2 delegaties naar N Korea, terwijl N Korea had toegezegd de grenzen te openen mensen die hun condolences in persoon wilden geven...South Korea's former First Lady Lee Hee-ho has met the North's designated new leader Kim Jong-un during a trip to Pyongyang, Seoul officials say.
Mrs Lee, 89, had a brief meeting with Kim Jong-un during a visit to offer condolences for the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
Seoul insists that she is on a private trip, and is not carrying any message from the government.
Seoul has allowed only two private delegations to travel north to pay their respects, and will not be sending any officials to the funeral.
"As chairman Kim Jong-il sent a condolence delegation to Seoul when my husband passed away in 2009, I believe it is our duty to express our condolences," she said.
A second delegation, led by Hyundai chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun, also met the presumed new leader.Hyundai was at the forefront of efforts to build business ties with the North, and Mrs Lee's husband Kim Dae-jung pioneered what became known as the Sunshine Policy, trying to engage the North through diplomacy.
Een van de dingen die gezegd werd is dit. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/world ... 1&ref=asia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; wat stukjes eruit.
Kort gezegd N Korea hoopt dat de volgende verkiezingen een meer pro sunshine policy president zal opleveren, met de huidige president Lee zal dat niet gaan lukken denk ik... Maar ja hij staat er in de polls niet al te best voor, al snel nadat ie president werd gebeurde dit al...North Korea Presses South to Implement Economic Pact
December 27, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea — In its first interaction with visitors from South Korea since the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il, North Korea on Tuesday called for the implementation of the inter-Korean summit agreements, which would have brought massive South Korean investments had the South Korean leader, Lee Myung-bak, not scuttled them.
Kim Jong-il held summit meetings with President Kim in 2000 and with his successor, Roh Moo-hyun, in 2007. Both meetings produced promises of large South Korean investments. Both South Korean leaders believed that boosting economic exchanges would ease military tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula and reduce the cost of an eventual reunification of Korea.
But that approach was reversed when President Lee, a conservative, came to power in early 2008.North Korea has since denounced Mr. Lee as a "national traitor
Both Ms. Lee and Ms. Hyun volunteered to visit Pyongyang to reciprocate the North Korean delegations that had visited their husbands’ funerals. Ms. Lee wished her husband’s biggest legacy — the "sunshine policy" of boosting economic exchanges with the North — would be revived. Ms. Hyun, too, had reasons to hope for better ties between the two Koreas; Hyundai-Asan has suffered heavy losses from its investments in the North’s Diamond Mountain resort, which has been shut down since 2008 amid frosty inter-Korean relations. and demanded that the summit agreements be reinstated
In the last years of Kim Jong-il, North Korea had shown interest in attracting foreign investment. It opened a couple of special economic zones along the border with China. Despite worsening ties with the South, it did not shut down a joint industrial park on the border with South Korea. It also agreed in principle to let a pipeline pass through its territory so that Russia could sell natural gas to South Korea. But it has been never clear to outside analysts whether the isolated and paranoid regime would dare a full-scale Chinese-style market reform any time soon. "
http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/ ... id=2893452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
in dit stuk trouwens wordt sommige dingen van zijn politiek vergeleken met de Z Koreaanse dictator uit de jaren 80.Lee sticks to right-wing agenda despite the polls
Aug 09,2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LF05Dg01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Een zeer interresant stuk, waarin de politieke tendens in Z Korea redelijk goed te begrijpen valt.Jun 5, 2010
Lee rapidly falls out of favor
The sinking of the corvette Cheonan, a conservative president and elections have combined to create the most caustic online debate in South Korea's history.
Lee's canny handling of the situation looked set to translate into a broad victory for his conservative Grand National Party (GNP), with large leads in key elections. Instead, they lost several races and the Seoul mayoral race was decided by a whisker. So what happened? ......................................
But one thing is clear: not for the first time, there was an online war between Lee and left-wing netizens. Lee lost again.
The run-up
Before the sinking of the Cheonan on March 26, the opposition labeled the election as a "referendum on Lee's presidency so far". With a mishandling of public opinion regarding US beef imports and mad cow disease, pressure on Internet and press freedoms, as well as an unpopular plan for a grand canal down the length of the country, this seemed like a good line on which to base opposition candidates' talking points.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/55146/pol ... to-normal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
May 19, 2011
Support for President Lee Myung-bak rising slightly from 27.3 percent to 29.3 percent. With his lame duck status only growing more pronounced by the day, I expect his numbers to remain steady at best unless some major event breaks his downward momentum. Conservatives are starting to show more interest in getting ready for the next presidential election than defending their current president.
Z Koreaanse president Lee (de kunstenaar die deze "portret" maakte, is ervoor gearresteert...)
Bush's "axis of evil" included Iran, Iraq, and North Korea (red)"Beyond the Axis of Evil" included Cuba, Libya, and Syria (yellow)The United States is blue.
