ID :
75697
Mon, 08/17/2009 - 17:57
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/75697
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(News Focus) N. Korea makes overtures on inter-Korean ties, Seoul cautious
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has offered a rare
olive branch to Seoul in agreeing to resume stalled ventures and family reunions
with the South, experts said Monday.
At a meeting with Kim over the weekend, Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun
secured a major boost for her conglomerate which has been struggling financially
amid an inter-Korean political stalemate. Hyundai Group runs tourism programs to
the North along with an affiliate.
According to analysts, joint projects with Hyundai are a diplomatic stepping
stone for North Korea to reach out to Seoul and Washington and offer a way out of
economic isolation.
"It's difficult for North Korea to immediately reach out to the South Korean
government and reconcile with it," Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst with the
non-governmental Sejong Institute, said.
Just hours before Kim's meeting with the Hyundai chief, South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak offered high-level talks for arms reduction and massive economic
aid to the North. But his Liberation Day proposals were largely conditioned on
Pyongyang's denuclearization, reaffirming his hardline stance.
"The only way for North Korea to break the stalemate and get real benefits for
now is trying to resume the business ventures it ran with Hyundai," Cheong said.
Kim and Hyun produced a five-point agreement including the resumption of Mount
Kumgang and Kaesong tour projects and reunions of families separated by the
Korean War, all conciliatory programs that were severed after Lee came to power
last year.
The two had a long, "cordial" talk in "an atmosphere of compatriotic feelings,"
the North's Korean Central News Agency said. Kim, 67, recounted "with deep
emotion" his long history with her predecessors in the Hyundai family -- her late
husband, Chung Mong-hun, and her father-in-law and the group founder, Chung
Ju-yung who drove 500 heads of cattle across the border into the impoverished
North, his birthplace, in an emotional trip in 1998.
Experts say what North Korea offered to the South was a deal. It juxtaposed
resumption of family reunions with Hyundai's Mount Kumgang tour, which was
suspended by Seoul last year after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South
Korean female tourist who strayed into an off-limits military zone.
North Korea lost one of its few sources of steady cash income from the tour
suspension. Hyundai Group's business unit, Hyundai Asan Corp., suffered 170
billion won (US$135.9 million) in sales losses and was forced to cut its
workforce to about 400 from more than 1,000.
The family reunions were suspended by Pyongyang in retaliation against Lee's
conservative policy soon after he took office.
"The instant remedy for North Korea's ailing economy is inter-Korean relations,"
said Cho Myung-chul, a North Korean defector and now analyst with the Korea
Institute for International Economic policy.
"It's a give and take. North Korea offered the family reunions to have the Mount
Kumgang tour resumed in return," he said.
North Korea also agreed to lift a traffic curfew it had imposed in December on
South Korean workers traveling to a joint industrial park in the North, another
major venture developed by Hyundai. The curfew, which set time windows for South
Koreans and cargo trucks to cross the demilitarized zone each day, has been a
major roadblock for the businesses investing in the joint park.
"Chairman Kim Jong-il gave a gift to the Hyundai Group, but the gift has value
only when the South Korean government approves it," Chang Yong-seok with the
non-governmental Institute for Peace Affairs said.
Seoul officials remained cautious, saying the agreement is "positive" but has
been reached only at the "non-governmental" level.
"For this agreement to be realized, the governments of South and North Korea need
to reach a concrete agreement through dialogue," Unification Ministry spokesman
Chun Hae-sung said.
The events leading up to the agreement between North Korea and Hyun do cast
questions about the commitments by Seoul and Pyongyang.
Since May, North Korea has sent invitations to the Hyundai chief, but the Seoul
government withheld approval for her trip until former U.S. President Bill
Clinton visited Pyongyang to meet with Kim and bring two detained American
journalists home.
The North Korean leader also allowed the release of a detained Hyundai employee
who had been detained in the North since March for criticizing its political
system. But he met the Hyundai chairwoman in a much more measured way, sitting
down with her only after she had extended her stay five times.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has offered a rare
olive branch to Seoul in agreeing to resume stalled ventures and family reunions
with the South, experts said Monday.
At a meeting with Kim over the weekend, Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun
secured a major boost for her conglomerate which has been struggling financially
amid an inter-Korean political stalemate. Hyundai Group runs tourism programs to
the North along with an affiliate.
According to analysts, joint projects with Hyundai are a diplomatic stepping
stone for North Korea to reach out to Seoul and Washington and offer a way out of
economic isolation.
"It's difficult for North Korea to immediately reach out to the South Korean
government and reconcile with it," Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst with the
non-governmental Sejong Institute, said.
Just hours before Kim's meeting with the Hyundai chief, South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak offered high-level talks for arms reduction and massive economic
aid to the North. But his Liberation Day proposals were largely conditioned on
Pyongyang's denuclearization, reaffirming his hardline stance.
"The only way for North Korea to break the stalemate and get real benefits for
now is trying to resume the business ventures it ran with Hyundai," Cheong said.
Kim and Hyun produced a five-point agreement including the resumption of Mount
Kumgang and Kaesong tour projects and reunions of families separated by the
Korean War, all conciliatory programs that were severed after Lee came to power
last year.
The two had a long, "cordial" talk in "an atmosphere of compatriotic feelings,"
the North's Korean Central News Agency said. Kim, 67, recounted "with deep
emotion" his long history with her predecessors in the Hyundai family -- her late
husband, Chung Mong-hun, and her father-in-law and the group founder, Chung
Ju-yung who drove 500 heads of cattle across the border into the impoverished
North, his birthplace, in an emotional trip in 1998.
Experts say what North Korea offered to the South was a deal. It juxtaposed
resumption of family reunions with Hyundai's Mount Kumgang tour, which was
suspended by Seoul last year after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South
Korean female tourist who strayed into an off-limits military zone.
North Korea lost one of its few sources of steady cash income from the tour
suspension. Hyundai Group's business unit, Hyundai Asan Corp., suffered 170
billion won (US$135.9 million) in sales losses and was forced to cut its
workforce to about 400 from more than 1,000.
The family reunions were suspended by Pyongyang in retaliation against Lee's
conservative policy soon after he took office.
"The instant remedy for North Korea's ailing economy is inter-Korean relations,"
said Cho Myung-chul, a North Korean defector and now analyst with the Korea
Institute for International Economic policy.
"It's a give and take. North Korea offered the family reunions to have the Mount
Kumgang tour resumed in return," he said.
North Korea also agreed to lift a traffic curfew it had imposed in December on
South Korean workers traveling to a joint industrial park in the North, another
major venture developed by Hyundai. The curfew, which set time windows for South
Koreans and cargo trucks to cross the demilitarized zone each day, has been a
major roadblock for the businesses investing in the joint park.
"Chairman Kim Jong-il gave a gift to the Hyundai Group, but the gift has value
only when the South Korean government approves it," Chang Yong-seok with the
non-governmental Institute for Peace Affairs said.
Seoul officials remained cautious, saying the agreement is "positive" but has
been reached only at the "non-governmental" level.
"For this agreement to be realized, the governments of South and North Korea need
to reach a concrete agreement through dialogue," Unification Ministry spokesman
Chun Hae-sung said.
The events leading up to the agreement between North Korea and Hyun do cast
questions about the commitments by Seoul and Pyongyang.
Since May, North Korea has sent invitations to the Hyundai chief, but the Seoul
government withheld approval for her trip until former U.S. President Bill
Clinton visited Pyongyang to meet with Kim and bring two detained American
journalists home.
The North Korean leader also allowed the release of a detained Hyundai employee
who had been detained in the North since March for criticizing its political
system. But he met the Hyundai chairwoman in a much more measured way, sitting
down with her only after she had extended her stay five times.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
