Seoul`s unification minister seeks dialogue with N. Korea in anniversary

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- Seoul's unification minister reaffirmed Monday his
commitment to dialogue with North Korea as his ministry marked the 40th
anniversary of its founding amid brittle relations with the North and mounting
border tension.
Inter-Korean relations shuddered to a halt after conservative President Lee
Myung-bak took office a year ago, adopting a tough stance on Pyongyang's nuclear
program and ending his liberal predecessors' policy of providing aid to boost
cross-border exchanges.
"We will engage in dialogue with North Korea and through dialogue find a new hope
and a future that are beneficial for both Koreas," Hyun said in a speech marking
the founding anniversary of the Ministry of Unification.
Pyongyang cut off official talks with Seoul, which suspended decade-long rice and
fertilizer aid to Pyongyang for the first time last year. In recent weeks, North
Korea declared all inter-Korean accords void and said it was preparing to launch
a satellite, believed by neighboring nations to be a long-range missile.
Lee has tacitly indicated he won't shift his stance toward the North, appointing
Hyun In-taek, a hawkish pro-U.S. scholar, as the new unification minister in
January. The appointment brought further criticism from Pyongyang.
"South and North Korea should honor existing inter-Korean accords," Hyun said,
"We sincerely intend to cooperate with the North and help the North to develop."
North Korea has rebuffed Seoul's repeated offers of dialogue as "wordplay,"
saying the Lee government does not respect the two previous summit agreements
reached in 2000 and 2007.
The Lee government has said it supports the "spirit" of the summit accords but
that it will be difficult to implement them in full, which it estimates will cost
Seoul more than 14 trillion won (US$8.8 billion).
Pyongyang renewed its harsh rhetoric against Lee on the ministry's anniversary.
"The traitor Lee Myung-bak, as soon as taking the seat of power, completely
denied the (summit) agreements and poured out reckless confrontational remarks,"
the North's state-run Radio Pyongyang said.
"If Lee Myung-bak truly wants inter-Korean dialogue, he first should kneel down
to the Korean people and apologize for the maneuvers of confrontation, war and
division he has carried out so far," it said. Otherwise, Lee will face "the blow
of a more horrendous iron hammer and shameful destruction," it warned.
On Sunday when South Korea commemorated the March 1, 1919 independence movement
against Japanese colonial rule, President Lee urged Pyongyang come forward to the
dialogue table and give up its nuclear weapons program, saying such moves are a
"shortcut" to its economic growth.
The past year of damaged relations stoked concerns in South Korea that the
conservative government may be regressing in inter-Korean relations by ignoring
the unique nature of secretive, communist North Korea.
Song Han-ho, who served as the ministry's vice minister from 1988 to 1992, said
Seoul should maintain its low-key, calm approach toward Pyongyang as long as
North Korea holds onto its nuclear weapons program.
"We don't need to be preoccupied with dialogue with North Korea if it has no
merit," Song said, "North Korea has not yet shown its respect for the Lee
Myung-bak government."
The Ministry of Unification was first established as the National Unification
Board during the Park Chung-hee government in 1969 to orchestrate inter-Korean
dialogue and examine North Korean affairs. It was elevated to its current
Cabinet-level status by President Kim Dae-jung in 1998.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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