President Lee Myung-bak presided over a cabinet meeting this morning from 8:00 o’clock to 9:30 at Cheong Wa Dae.

At the meeting, the President commented on the recently rekindled Dokdo issue and the fatal shooting of an unarmed female tourist at the Geumgangsan resort. He said, “The two incidents should be dealt with on a suprapartisan and national basis. If the politicians in Korea respond to these issues with politically motivated actions, they will eventually become caught up in the ploys of North Korea and Japan, which are aimed at creating divisiveness in Korea.”

In connection with the deadly shooting incident involving a defenseless female tourist at the Geumgangsan resort, President Lee remarked, “The Republic of Korea has provided enormous aid to North Korea through both Government and non-government channels over the past 10 years.” He went on to say emphatically, “In particular, every single South Korean tourist who goes on a tour to Geumgangsan does so with a good intention of helping the North. The shooting death of an unarmed tourist by a North Korean soldier can never be acceptable under any circumstances. The North must respond immediately to our demand for a joint investigation.”

In this regard, President Lee stressed, “Given international standards and common sense, it is only natural for the North to respond to the South’s demands.”

The President went on to emphasize, “The top priority of the Government is to safeguard the lives of the people. If a joint fact-finding investigation, measures against any recurrence of such an incident and exhaustive measures for the safety of tourists are not guaranteed, the Geumgangsan tours will remain suspended.”

Concerning the issue of the Dokdo Islets, President Lee said, “The domestic public outrage is highly understandable.” Then, the President instructed the participants saying, “We have to cope with this issue based on a clear understanding that Japan is taking step-by-step measures with a long-term strategic goal of making Dokdo an area of international territorial dispute. Now is the time for us to work out countermeasures from a strategic perspective with a long-term objective rather than short-term, improvised responses.”

In this connection, President Lee instructed the cabinet to “help strengthen the research activities of the Northeast Asian History Foundation as they relate to Japanese and Chinese history as a means of preparing countermeasures.”

Referring to the fact that Germany made common history textbooks in cooperation with France, Poland and other countries, the President said: “I am not sure if Japanwould agree to such an idea. But Korea should try to make a common history book in collaboration with Japan and China and educate their peoples. It is necessary to actively pursue this so that the three nations will all be able to contribute to peace and coprosperity in Northeast Asia.”

Regarding Dokdo, President Lee said, “Korea needs to step up international activities as well as effective control of Dokdo. We have to take concrete measures to counter any attempt to manipulate history.”