Ahn’s Secret Contact with the North Turns out to Be 386 Counterattack

It has been reported that there was veiled enmity between the official figures in charge of North Korean policies and non-official figures around last October; at the time when Ahn Hee-jeong, a close confidant of President Roh Moo-hyun, and Uri party lawmaker Lee Hwa-yeong, were secretly attempting to meet with North Korean officials.

In particular, according to political sources, the 386 generation intended to pursue inter-Korean talks at the time when Korea’s relationship with the North was abruptly aggravated in the wake of the North’s missile tests in July and the nuclear test in October last year. A senior official from the ruling party said on March 29, “Against the 386 generation’s attempt to solve the problem by holding an inter-Korean summit, the then official members in charge of North Korea policies, headed by then presidential secretary for unification and security, Song Min-soon (the current Foreign Minister), were trying to solve the problem by attempting to resume the six-nation talks.

In fact, it has now been revealed that Ahn secretly promoted the summit by excluding all official routes including the Office of the Prime Minister, as well as the Ministry of Unification, which is in charge of establishing and implementing policies towards North Korea.

When Song min-soon, who is currently accompanying President Roh on his visit to the Middle East, met with reporters and was asked whether he knew about Ahn’s secret contact with North Korea, he answered, “Before answering that question, I first have to talk to the person in question (Lee Ho-cheol, presidential secretary for information and policy monitoring). But I hope this will not be taken too seriously.”

Minister Song was critical of the plan by Roh’s aides to push for a summit by saying, “I don’t see any point in holding an inter-Korean summit unless it provides a breakthrough in the current diplomatic deadlock. There should be tangible progress in relations with North Korea and improvements on the issues, including the North’s nuclear program, before pushing for a summit. Otherwise we should avoid acting in such ways, which appears to be just piling sand.

A former senior official of the National Intelligence Service said in a telephone interview with Dong-A Ilbo, “I did not know that the 386 generation met North Korean officials while I was in office. It was an independent political decision made entirely by themselves. They might have thought that they had no other choice but to promote an inter-Korean talk in order to push for a second presidential term.

The then Prime Minister, Han Myeong-sook (current lawmaker of the Uri Party), reportedly did not know that Ahn had been in contact with North Korean officials.

In the context, the power struggle within Cheong Wa Dae indicates that there was relevance to the 386 generation’s secret contact with North Korea.

A key government official who was well informed about Cheong Wa Dae said, “There are various factions within Cheong Wa Dae ranging from the “Busan faction” and the “386 generation group” to “figures with government official backgrounds.” They continuously form and dissolve alliances according to respective issues. “Ahn’s secret contact with North Korea is the result of the leadership tug of war, which is brought about under the joint collaboration between Lee Ho-cheol, presidential secretary for information and policy monitoring, and Rep. Lee Hwa-yeong, an aide of the former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.”

yongari@donga.com sys1201@donga.com