South Korea's Yu Under Fire for Jibe Against Youth Over Policy on North

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan came under fire from the opposition after he was quoted as saying young people who criticize the government’s North Korea policies should go and live there.

Yu told South Korean reporters on July 24 in Hanoi that leftist attitudes among the nation’s youth would make it difficult to sustain the country, local media, including MoneyToday, reported yesterday. Yu was in the Vietnamese capital to attend the Asean Regional Forum.

Yu also criticized young people for voting for the Democratic Party in last month’s local elections, when the ruling Grand National Party suffered a surprise defeat.

“Minister Yu Myung Hwan should issue a public apology and resign immediately,” theDemocratic Party said yesterday on its website. “Is he suggesting that young voters who support the opposition party have no right to live in this country?”

Foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young Sun told reporters yesterday that Yu had no political motive in making his comments, without elaborating.

President Lee Myung Bak has adopted a more hostile approach to dealing with North Korea, rejecting the past two administrations’ “Sunshine Policy” of engaging the communist country. Lee banned trade with North Korea after his country accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships on March 26, killing 46 sailors