Roundup: Unification with DPRK to complete liberation from Japan's colonial rule: S.Korea

Experts, politicians and senior government officials in South Korea said with one voice on Thursday that unification with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will only complete the Korean Peninsula's liberation from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule. " Unification (of the two Koreas) will mean a true liberation, not a half-liberation,"Rep. Kim Moo-sung, head of the ruling Saenuri Party, said during a forum on the peninsula's unification co- hosted by the presidential preparatory committee for unification and Yonhap News Agency.

The forum was held two days ahead of the 70th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japan's colonial era. Aug. 15 also marks the 70th year of the divided peninsula as the United States and the Soviet Union established military administrations in South Korea and the DPRK each in the name of disarming Japanese forces.

Yoo Sung-ok, head of the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy under the National Intelligence Service (NIS), said that the unified Korea would mean the peninsula's true independence and complete liberation.

The divided Korea boosted concerns about permanent division and maintained heavy burden for defense, security and socio-economic costs, Yoo said, noting that the unified Korea will serve economic growth and socio-political stability on the peninsula while contributing to peace and co-prosperity in Northeast Asia.

President Park Geun-hye has hyped her signature DPRK policy, dubbed the peninsula's trust-building process, and promoted the need for unification with the DPRK since her inauguration in early 2013.

Park's policy adopted a two-track approach to the DPRK, which builds strong deterrence against any provocations and pushes separately for cooperation with the DPRK and preparations for future unification.

Park's push for firm defense capability and dialogue efforts has been agreed on, but some advised the Park administration to take a more"flexible"attitude and strategy toward the northern neighbor. Some criticized the government's adherence to" principle,"which has little difference from"strategic patience," or no improvement and fruits in inter-Korean relations adopted by former President Lee Myung-bak. "Firm defense capability does not mean a hard-line stance. North Korea (DPRK)'s provocations should be tackled strongly,"said Rep. Moon Jae-in, head of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

Moon, however, noted that peace would come on the peninsula only after practical cooperation between the two sides, adding that any fruits and improvement in inter-Korean ties would not come by only blaming the DPRK. He urged the government to make practical efforts to bear fruits, saying that now is time to lift the May 24 sanctions against the DPRK.

President Park said in her speech for the forum read by her aide for diplomatic and security affairs that the DPRK threatened peace on the peninsula with recent provocations in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) while denying South Korea's dialogue offer.

Park noted that the country would continue to urge Pyongyang to return to dialogue table and prepare for future unification with the DPRK. Senior-level inter-government talks have not been held between South Korea and the DPRK since February 2014.

Inter-Korean tensions mounted after two South Korean soldiers were maimed on Aug. by an explosion of mines"assuredly"planted by DPRK forces on the South side of the DMZ.

From Monday, the South Korean military resumed a psychological warfare along the border by airing propaganda broadcasts in frontline army units.

Combined forces of South Korea and the United States are expected to kick off the joint annual war game, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, next week. The computer-assisted simulation exercise tended to begin in mid-August. Endi