The overall direction of policies toward North Korea has been a controversial issue of all time. The issue is complicated and multilateral; concerned with not only the relationship with North Korea but the international politics, domestic situations, or political beliefs of people.
Recently, due to the several incidents as Yeonpyeong island incident or the warship Cheonan incident, the controversy over this issue has deepen.
1. Sunshine policy
The Sunshine Policy was the foreign policy of South Korea towards North Korea until Lee Myung-bak's election to presidency in 2008. Since its articulation in 1998 by South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, the policy resulted in greater political contact between the two nations and some historical moments for the Korean peninsula; the two Korean summit meetings in Pyongyang (June 2000) which broke ground with several high-profile business ventures, as well as brief meetings of separated family members. In 2000, Kim Dae Jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a result of the Sunshine Policy.
The term sunshine policy originates in The North Wind and the Sun, one of Aesop's fables. In the fable, the sun and the wind compete to remove a man's coat. The wind blew strongly, but the man clutched his coat and kept it on. The sun shone warmly, and the man voluntarily took off his coat to enjoy the fine weather. The main aim of the policy was to soften North Korea's attitudes towards the South by encouraging interaction and economic assistance.
The national security policy had three basic principles.
No armed provocation by the North will be tolerated.
The South will not attempt to absorb the North in any way.
The South actively seeks cooperation.
These principles were meant to convey the message that the South does not wish to absorb the North or to undermine its government; its goal was peaceful co-existence rather than regime change or re-unification.
Kim's administration also outlined two other major policy components. The first was the separation of politics and economics. In practice, this meant that the South loosened restrictions on its private sector to invest in North Korea, limiting its own involvement essentially to humanitarian aid. This was initially meant both to improve the North's economy and to induce change in the North's repressive government, though the latter goal was later (at least officially) de-emphasized.
The second component was the requirement of reciprocity from the North. Initially it was intended that the two nations would treat each other as equals, each making concessions and compromises. Perhaps most criticism of the policy stemmed from the significant backpedaling by the South on this principle in the face of unexpected rigidity from the North. It ran into trouble just two months into the Sunshine era, when South Korea requested the creation of a reunion center for divided families in exchange for fertilizer assistance; North Korea denounced this as "horse trading" and cut off talks. A year later the South announced its goal would be "flexible reciprocity" based on Confucian values; as the "elder brother" of the relationship the South would provide aid without expecting an immediate reciprocation and without requesting a specific form of reciprocity. The South also announced that it would provide humanitarian assistance without any expectations of concessions in return.
The logic of the policy was based on the belief that, even in light of its continuing famine and economic deprivation, Kim Jong-il's regime will not collapse, disintegrate, or reform itself, even if the South were to apply strong pressure. It was believed that military tensions can be lessened through bilateral and multilateral frameworks. This emphasized the normalization of political and economic relations between both the United States and North Korea as well as Japan.
2. Hard-line policy
Article: South Korea dumps Sunshine Policy with North, opts to go solo
In a strategic move to delink from North Korea, the South has dumped the decade-old Sunshine Policy that was ushered in to eventually achieve the unification of both Koreas.
In its annual report, the South Korean Unification Ministry has categorically said billions of dollars and cross-border exchanges failed to change the mindset of Pyongyang, leaving aside any improvement in the lives of North Koreans under the Communist regime.
The report which was released on Thursday shortly after the North's request to resume the jointly-run Mount Kumgang resort that was shun by Seoul in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was killed by a guard.
The report has blamed the North for the lack of progress on reuniting separated families or providing information about South Korean prisoners of war. Seoul and Tokyo also allege that the North Korean agents had abducted their citizens in the 1960s and 70s.
The turnaround in South Korean policy is reportedly pushed by the North's alleged sinking of its Cheonan vessel in which 46 sailors were killed. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government has also stressed that the North should stop its nuclear program for any resumption of talks or bilateral ties.
"There are no positive changes to North Korea's position that correspond to the support and cooperation offered by us," the report said, according to Reuters, which is said to have obtained the report.
Eversince the 1950-53 war that divided the Koreas along the 58th parallel, both the nations remained technically at war though the administrations of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun from 1998-2008 tried to restore normalcy under the Sunshine Policy that brought Kim the Nobel Prize in 2000. Kim visited North Korea in June 2000 and apparently allowed aid to flow clandestinely.
The policy comes at a time when the Myung-bak's government is seriously considering global role bereft of any North Korean shadow that had taken away the sheen from the South's progress in the region. The National Branding efforts by the South and the recently held Group of 20 (G20) summit are the new initiatives by the current government to forge ahead a new global image for the country that was bogged down by the North's nuclear issue.
The Sunshine Policy, which became a milestone early this decade, raised hopes that the North with its advanced missile and nuclear capabilities would eventually merge with the developed South and herald a new Asian power in the region.
However, the North's nuclear tests and its retreat from the Six-Nation talks on its nuclear program led to frequent disruptions in the peace process while the sinking of the ship in March brought forward the final curtain.
Though Pyongyang has not reacted so far to shelving of the Sunshine Policy by Seoul, media reports say it is preparing for another round of nuclear tests.
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