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South Korea's presidential office on Wednesday stressed the need for discussing arms control and military trust-building with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to lay the groundwork for discussing peace framework on the Korean peninsula when conditions become ripe.
"Actual arms control will be pushed for when military trust- building makes progress between the two Koreas, and issue on building peace framework will be discussed when conditions are ripe," the presidential national security office said in a report titled "National Security Strategy."
The report, composed of eight chapters on defense, unification and diplomacy, stressed the need for starting an inter-Korean discussion "at an appropriate time" on arms control and military trust-building to lower possibility for armed conflicts and military tensions on the Korean peninsula.
It said South Korea will first urge the DPRK to take responsible measures toward Pyongyang's shelling of a front-line Yeonpyeong island and the sinking incident of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan.
In 2010, the DPRK conducted artillery strikes against the border island. In the same year, the Cheonan warship sank near the disputed western sea border.
The Seoul-led multinational investigation team claimed the sinking was caused by the DPRK's torpedo attack, but Pyongyang repeatedly denied its involvement in the 2010 incident, which claimed lives of 46 sailors.
According to the report, Seoul plans to call for Pyongyang to keep inter-Korean agreements, such as the stop of slandering and provoking each other, the prevention of accidental conflicts and the military guarantee on projects for exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas.
For the economic cooperation, South Korea plans to start mutually-beneficial economic cooperation with the DPRK by resuming small-scale trade in some areas, such as farm goods and trusted processing, when inter-Korean relations make progress and allowing for commercial investment in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.
It indicated that South Korea could ease the so-called May 24 sanctions when inter-Korean ties improve. The May 24 sanctions were imposed by Seoul in 2010 when the Cheonan warship sank, banning all inter-Korean exchanges except for the joint factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.
In accordance with the improved ties between the two Koreas, South Korea will push for the development of the Kaesong industrial zone by allowing more South Korean companies to run factories there, increasing investment and enhancing infrastructure such as communications and passage.
Regarding the frosty ties with Japan, the report said South Korea will develop stable relations with its neighboring country based on "right perception of history," noting that Seoul will continue cooperation in security with Tokyo to jointly tackle Pyongyang's possible threats if necessary.
The report, however, noted that South Korea will sternly deal with Japan's distortion of its militaristic history and its repeated territorial claims to a set of islets, called Dokdo in Seoul and Takeshima in Tokyo.
