President Park Geun-hye unveiled at the U.S. Congress a vision of building world peace park in DMZ.
The government needs to resolve problems with North Korea and selection of competent government agency.
A civic group argued, “It should be approached from standpoint of preserving ecosystems.”
▲ A scene of Chopyeong-do in DMZ (file picture)
In the wake of President Park Geun-hye’s announcement of the vision to turn the demilitarized zone (DMZ) into the world peace park on May 8 (local time) at a joint session of the U.S. Congress, the government began to formulate a specific plan.
But it is a dominant prediction that the government will not be easy to push forward the proposed project in a short period of time because it confronts with many hurdles, such as variables of North Korea and selection of competent government agency for conservation of ecosystems.
A government official said on May 12, “I understand the peace park project will be designed in different shape from previous governments, but no discussion is made yet even on selection of responsible agency. The government needs to discuss the subject among related agencies.”
At present, the Ministry of Unification is expected to discuss the proposed project with North Korea, while the Ministry of National Defense will discuss military affairs with the North. This prediction came as the Unification Ministry said on May 10 ahead of other agencies, “The Ministry will work out specific plans jointly with other government agencies and push forward the peace park project after discussing with the United Nations.”
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport and Ministry of Environment are cited as candidates for construction work of the park.
In its report to the President made in April, the Land, Infrastructure & Transport Ministry proposed a plan for the DMZ peace project, and cited the ‘project constructing industrial complex like Gaeseong Industrial Complex’ and ‘program of using natural environments such as sightseeing tour of Mt. Geumgang’.
And, besides government agencies, some observers discuss ways of absorbing ideas and knowhow of private organizations that have been pursuing programs of peaceful use of DMZ.
Given that it is one of 8 core policies proposed by President Park Geun-hye since days of presidential campaign, the government shows aggressive position in pushing the project.
But construction of the park has many hurdles. And an observation prevails that the project will be difficult to be implemented in the foreseeable future.
The largest obstacle is North Korea. Observers believe that construction of the peace park is not plausible under the situation that inter-Korean relations are deadlocked due to incidents, such as closure of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
A government official who is acquainted with inter-Korean relations said in prudent attitude, “It is a good idea to push forward a new program, but it will make smooth progress when problems of existing programs are resolved in advance.”
The new government also needs to adjust the proposed project with programs carried forward by the preceding President Lee Myung-bak’s government. At that time, the Ministry of Environment and provincial governments of Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do conducted research projects spending over 500 million won, and they are still in process. And many observers point out that formulation of a new plan with separate budget by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry is an administrative redundancy and waste of budget.
Decision of the project direction is not a simple matter, either. Unlike Gaeseong and Mt. Geumgang, nearly 80% of southern part of the DMZ has gifted natural resources evaluated to be first class in environment. Though barriers between government agencies will be removed, some observers point out that ecosystems there may be damaged depending on which agency will take charge between the Environment Ministry and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.
In a statement, Green Korea United said, “The DMZ is a treasure house of natural resources paradoxically created by division of Korea for 60 years. We welcome President Park Geun-hye’s vision, but the world peace park in DMZ should start from the standpoint of preserving ecosystems.”
Source: greenpostkorea
