S. Korea delays response to N. Korea`s tour talks proposal

SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Friday it has yet to decide whether
it will accept last week's proposal by North Korea for talks later this month on
ways to resume their long-suspended cross-border tours.
The North has proposed the talks Jan. 26-27 at Mount Kumgang, a scenic mountain
on the east coast where cross-border tours were suspended after a South Korean
tourist who had entered a restricted zone was fatally shot by a North Korean
guard in July 2008.
The proposal made Jan. 14 by the North also sought to resume tours to the
historic border city of Kaesong where the sides have also run a joint industrial
park since 2004. The tours to the city near the west coast were suspended in
December 2008 after having been operated for a year.
"We're carefully examining the North Korean proposal in consideration of recent
changes in inter-Korean relations," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung
said in a briefing. "No decision has been made yet as to whether we'll accept the
proposal."
Chun was referring to a series of developments that had taken place in the past
week between the Koreas, which remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in a truce.
A day after the North sought talks on the tours, its highest decision-making
body, the National Defense Commission, threatened a "sacred" battle against South
Korea over contingency plans Seoul had reportedly made in preparation for regime
breakdown in Pyongyang.
On Sunday, the official North Korean media released for the first time photos of
leader Kim Jong-il inspecting a massive joint drill of the army, navy and air
force.
The saber-rattling raised tension days ahead of this year's first inter-Korean
talks where officials of the divided states squared off over steps to enhance the
competitiveness of the Kaesong complex.
The talks from Tuesday to early Thursday morning ended with only a date set for
another round on Feb. 1, even though the sides remain deadlocked on whether pay
raises for North Korean workers should be put on the agenda when they meet again.
The tours to Mount Kumgang began in 1998, drawing nearly 2 million tourists from
South Korea, one of the most symbolic reconciliation projects between the
countries in their history. Opponents have slammed it as an easy source of cash
for the impoverished North that continues to entertain its nuclear ambitions
despite chronic food shortages and dismal human rights records.
The South Korean government insists the tours will not resume until the North
allows a joint on-site investigation into the death of the South Korean tourist
and takes steps to guarantee the safety of those visiting the mountain resort.
(END)