S. Korea downplays sinking ties with N. Korea as 'readjustment'

(ATTN: ADDS background on S. Korean policy in paras 8-9, past clashes in para 11;
TRIMS para 7)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea assesses its tumbling ties with North Korea
as a product of "readjustment," an official booklet said Monday, amid increasing
threats from Pyongyang of an armed clash.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said over the weekend he expects relations
between Seoul and Pyongyang will soon improve, despite a recent spate of harsh
warnings from the communist neighbor.
The two countries, which remain in a technical state of war as the 1950-53 Korean
War ended without a formal peace treaty, have seen their ties unravel quickly
over the past year.
Accusing Lee of taking a hostile position toward it, North Korea said last week
it is rescinding all peace accords with the South. Pyongyang also dismissed a
landmark 1991 pact that acknowledges a decades-old de facto western sea border.
"The current state of inter-Korean relations can be evaluated as a 'period of
readjustment,'" said the booklet published by the Ministry of Unification, which
formulates South Korea's policy on the North.
The publication, dated this month, was distributed to officials at the Ministry
of National Defense as part of a closed-door lecture by Vice Unification Minister
Hong Yang-ho. Unification Ministry officials routinely tour frontline bases and
other units to coordinate their policy with commanders, defense officials said.
Describing the readjustment as necessary for "ties that lead to co-prosperity and
co-existence," the booklet said the North's acerbic reactions are the result of
its needs to tighten internal control and pressure the South to reverse its North
Korea stance.
The Seoul "government will make efforts to manage the relations by taking a
flexible approach while adhering to principles," the booklet said.
President Lee, who took office early last year, has promised huge economic
benefits for Pyongyang if the isolated state opens up and moves noticeably toward
denuclearization.
North Korea rejects the idea, criticizing Lee for tying reconciliation to the
nuclear issue and accusing him of scuttling two previous summit deals.
No unusual activities have been spotted along the inter-Korean border since
Pyongyang announced on Jan. 17 it would "shatter" any South Korean efforts to
maintain the U.N.-drawn Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea.
Evoking memories of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002, a South Korean
warship was dispatched to the area following North Korea's declaration last week
of all peace accords with the South as "dead."
Analysts say the North may be setting the stage for an armed conflict to mount
pressure on the South and draw attention from the new U.S. administration to its
nuclear weapons programs.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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