Lee Myung-bak Says “Voluntary Military Service Should Be Considered”

Lee Myung-bak Says “Voluntary Military Service Should Be Considered”. September. 13, 2007 03:25. taylor55@donga.com.

Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak announced on September 12 that, “With the reduction of armaments between South and North Korea, voluntary military service needs to be considered deliberately.”

Lee said in an interview with Yonhap News, “It is not good to mention it to get more votes from young people prior to the presidential election, but I think we need to consider this issue in the long run, not as campaign pledge.”

The aspiring presidential candidate explained, “I think it would be better to introduce voluntary military service step by step from specialized and state-of-the-art military divisions where soldiers should be stationed for long times instead of introducing it all at once.”

Regarding the issue of a peace regime for the Korean peninsula that will be discussed during the South-North summit early next month, Lee added, “I am worried about declaring peace without a resolution of North Korea’s nuclear issue and in a situation where Pyongyang has not completely given up nuclear weapons. A hasty peace declaration will not help the six-party talks.”

Concerning the fact that he once embraced Byeon Yang-gyun, the the former presidential secretary on National Policy who is involved in “Shin-gate,” he emphasized, “President Roh has been concentrating on the South-North summit meeting and accusing opposition party candidates. However, he should be concentrating his energy on ending his presidency well.”