South Korea's presidential front-runner renews demand North Korea drop nuclear program

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's presidential front-runner renewed his call Monday for North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program and embrace reform to revive its moribund economy.

South Korea's "top priority in relations with North Korea is to get the North to abandon its nuclear" program, said Lee Myung-bak, who is currently leading opinion polls for the Dec. 19 presidential election as the candidate of the conservative opposition Grand National Party.

Lee, a former Hyundai CEO and Seoul mayor, said in a televised meeting with reporters in Seoul that if the North abandons its nuclear program and opens to the rest of the world South Korean firms could invest in the North and international agencies could assist it.

He also voiced concerns about South Korea's planned massive economic projects with the North before Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear program. He said that could be seen as Seoul's "recognition of North Korea's nuclear" weapons and hurt the nuclear disarmament talks.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test explosion last year but it has since moved to disable its sole operational nuclear reactor in return for economic aid and political concessions from the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Lee said economic cooperation with the North should start in earnest after the nuclear row is resolved, indicating that he may oppose some of the agreements reached at recent inter-Korean summit and subsequent high-level talks.

South and North Korea agreed last week to launch cross-border freight train service and start promised shipyard construction along with highway and railroad repairs in the North next year.

The two sides also pledged to turn the area around the Koreas' disputed western sea border into a "peace and cooperation zone" next year by establishing a joint fishing ground and a special economic zone on shore nearby.

The agreement was a fleshed-out version of a wide-ranging accord struck at an October summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

Lee said joint fishing in the disputed waters could disrupt peace, saying the current maritime border, drawn up by the U.S.-led U.N. command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, should be kept intact until the two Koreas are reunified.

The North doesn't recognize the border and has long insisted it should be redrawn farther south. The area was the scene of two bloody naval skirmishes between the Koreas in 1999 and 2002.