Seoul urges Pyongyang to retract threats, resume dialogue

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Thursday scurried to deal with North Korea's sudden bellicosity, with key government agencies and ministers in Seoul urging the communist North to reverse its decision to restrict the inter-Korean border and communication lines and return to the dialogue table.

In a message sent to Seoul Wednesday, the North Korean military threatened to
"strictly restrict and cut off all the overland passages" through the
inter-Korean border from Dec. 1, citing South Korea's failure to abide by the
existing inter-Korean summit agreements.
The North also said in a separate statement Wednesday night that it was closing
its Red Cross liaison office and all direct telephone links at the truce village
of Panmunjom in retaliation against Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
In addition to the threats, Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry issued a statement
denying that it had agreed to allow inspectors to take samples from nuclear
facilities as part of international efforts to verify its nuclear activities.
Washington insists the North had verbally agreed to the measures during a meeting
last month in Pyongyang with top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill.
The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday warned North Korea against
misunderstanding the international diplomatic situation, stepping up criticism of
the communist state's abrupt decision to close inter-Korean crossings and
communications.
"North Korea may have its own strategic considerations. But it must have
misunderstood the situation if the border and communication line closures are
intended to isolate South Korea in its diplomacy with the U.S.," a top-ranking
official at Cheong Wa Dae said.
"South Korea and the U.S. will continue to closely cooperate even after U.S.
President-elect Barack Obama takes office," said the official on condition of
anonymity.
The official reiterated Cheong Wa Dae's existing position, expressing deep regret
over the North Korean provocations and calling on the North to immediately return
to dialogue with the South at government level for discussion on co-existence and
co-prosperity.
"The door for dialogue is always open. The seeming North Korean strategy to
bypass South Korea in its U.S. diplomacy is an outdated and mistaken notion,"
said the presidential official.
"As President Lee Myung-bak recently said, the South Korean government is still
not opposed to a meeting between Obama and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il."
Inter-Korean relations turned sour after the conservative South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak took office with a pledge to link inter-Korean relations to the
North's nuclear disarmament. He also vowed to challenge the neighbor's "rudeness"
in dealing with the South, even at the cost of chilled relations.
In issuing the threat to control inter-Korean border crossings, spokesmen for the
North's military accused Lee of damaging bilateral relations by refusing to carry
out agreements signed in historic summit meetings between the two countries'
leaders in 2000 and 2007.
It is not clear yet whether North Korea intends to close the inter-Korean
industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong and South Korean tour
program there. But experts in Seoul warn that the border restrictions will
effectively suspend operations at the Kaesong complex, the last remaining symbol
of inter-Korean reconciliation efforts after tours to North Korea's Mount
Geumgang were suspended in July following a shooting death there.
Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong also voiced deep concern during his meeting
with South Korean investors in the Kaesong complex and demanded that North Korea
immediately cancel its plan to shut the overland passages through the
inter-Korean border.
"We're opposed to any North Korean move to ruin confidence in the market and
hinder industrial activities of innocent private companies in Kaesong," said Kim.
"The Kaesong industrial park is a mutually beneficial project. We'll do our best
to promote its stable development."
Seoul's Defense Ministry also urged North Korea to help resume the long-suspended
inter-Korean dialogue and offered to help modernize the North's military
communication lines.
"We proposed the sides hold a meeting to discuss our provision of communications
material and equipment to modernize the North's military communication lines,"
the ministry said.
"We urged the North Korean side to work for co-prosperity, co-existence and
improved South-North relations through dialogue and cooperation," it added.
Meanwhile, South Korea's main opposition party leader on Thursday urged President
Lee Myung-bak to "completely alter" his North Korea policy, claiming Seoul's
ambiguous position is damaging inter-Korean ties.
"We ask the Lee government to make the critical decision right now and start
setting up a new North Korea policy from zero ground," Chung Sye-kyun said. "From
the start, the Lee government should make clear it will respect and carry out the
two historic inter-Korean accords."
Chung's party has been demanding the Lee government make efforts to implement the
two major joint accords, struck in 2000 and 2007, which call for expanded
economic cooperation and reunion opportunities for families separated by the
1950-53 Korean War.