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SEOUL: South Korea’s conservative president-elect
said Monday that he is willing to meet North Korea’s reclusive
leader and promised the communist state major economic assistance if
it abandons its nuclear ambitions.
Lee Myung-Bak, in a press
conference setting out policy goals, also vowed to revive his own
country’s economy by wooing investment and cutting red tape,
saying he believes six-percent growth is possible this year.
The former construction CEO will
be the country’s first president from a business background but
his transition is overshadowed by a criminal inquiry into fraud
allegations.
Lee, who has promised a firmer
line with the nuclear-armed North, said he is willing to meet its
leader Kim Jong-Il after taking office on February 25.
“The leaders of the two Koreas
can meet any time they believe it will help North Korea abandon its
nuclear weapons and will also help both Koreas,” he said, adding
that any future summit should be held in the South.
The previous two summits, in 2000
and last October, were held in Pyongyang. Lee said he would review
sweeping economic joint projects announced last October.
He offered the impoverished North
major economic cooperation if it honors an international pledge to
scrap its nuclear programs.
He promised to strengthen
Seoul’s alliance with the United States and said this would also
help the North reconcile with its traditional enemy Washington.
Lee pledges to raise annual
growth to seven percent during his five-year term. The central bank
said last month it expects gross domestic product to expand by 4.7
percent in 2008 compared to 4.8 percent estimated for 2007.
His administration “will focus
on deregulation as well as downsized government. Regulations which
hamper investment should be removed first.”
Lee promised a “slim and
efficient government” after five years in which the number of
government officials has risen by 56,000.
--AFP
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