By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter


With the U.S. presidential race in the home stretch, South Korea’s rival parties are biting their fingernails as they watch the latest developments in the political fortunes of the two American candidates.

With one eye on the bitter campaign between U.S. President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, the Uri Party has lost no time in scrambling for ways to avoid possible fallout from the election.

The ruling party on Tuesday decided to establish a task force of political experts to predict possible changes for the North Korea policy of the new U.S. administration to be inaugurated in January.

``As soon as the U.S. presidential election is over, we will establish an intra-party organization to deal with (U.S. policies) for the Korean peninsula,’’ Uri Party chairman Lee Bu-young said in a party caucus.

``With the election too close to call, we should jointly work with all our ability to prevent any election results from distracting from the focus on South Korea’s drive to salvage inter-Korean reconciliation.’’

A group of Uri Party lawmakers will go to the U.S. within the year to study changes in the U.S.’ strategy toward the North and its nuclear arms program.

The ruling party is also planning a series of meetings with government officials, starting with a policy coordination meeting with the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry next Monday, to head off any unexpected changes in U.S. policy toward North Korea, according to Rep. Chung Eui-yong, head of the party’s foreign affairs committee.

``Whoever wins the election, efforts to resolve the prolonged standoff over North Korea’s nuclear arms program will pick up steam,’’ the Uri Party lawmaker said. ``We will listen to what kind of measures the administration has come up with and see how our party can assist the government.’’

The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is also working to predict what might happen following the upcoming U.S. election. Rep. Kim Young-sun, a member of the GNP’s supreme council, claimed there would inevitably be changes to U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula after the election. ``There will be some possible policy variations depending on whether the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate wins the election,’’ Kim said. ``But what’s more important is for South Korea to take a position and not drift away from its own diplomatic priorities.’’

Other GNP lawmakers predicted a turbulent year following the election, cautiously predicting there could be more drastic changes in U.S. policy toward North Korea if the Democratic hopeful John Kerry wins. ``Some believe that the U.S. may take stronger measures against the North if Kerry is elected as the next U.S. president,’’ Rep. Park Chan-sook said.

North Korea is widely thought to have blocked the nuclear negotiations until after the U.S. presidential race in the hope that Bush loses the election.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr