S Korea to revise gov't plan on inter-Korean relations

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government is moving to revise its plan on improving ties with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Seoul's Yonhap News Agency said Friday.

The government will revise the Basic Plan for Development of Inter-Korean Relation, drawn up in November 2007 under the previous administration, to include the principle of linking improvements in the DPRK's nuclear issues with economic cooperation between the two countries, according to what Seoul's Unification Ministry has briefed to the ruling party, Yonhap said.

The blueprint omitted the part on constructing a "peace regime" on the Korean Peninsula, which the Roh Moo-hyun administration had put emphasis on.

"The revision plan would be consistent with the existing plan but would reflect current situations of DPRK's nuclear issues and President Lee Myung-bak's policy philosophy," an unnamed government official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

The original plan, laid out by the Roh Moo-hyun administration in the spirit of the joint summit with the DPRK in October 2007, does not link plans to expand economic cooperation between the two sides with progress in nuclear issues.

President Lee, who came to office in February 2008, has been tougher with the DPRK compared to his liberal predecessor, maintaining a hard-line stance on the DPRK's nuclear program.