ID :
56150
Sat, 04/18/2009 - 13:46
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/56150
The shortlink copeid
Two Koreas to meet over joint complex, Seoul delays joining anti-proliferation drive
(ATTN: COMBINES previous stories on N. Korea's offer, Seoul delaying announcement on
PSI, ADDS details)
By Byun Duk-kun and Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will meet next week to discuss
their joint industrial complex, Seoul officials said Saturday, following
Pyongyang's rare offer of talks amid heightened regional tensions.
Seoul promptly delayed its participation in a U.S.-led anti-proliferation drive,
which was expected on Sunday, apparently to avoid provoking Pyongyang ahead of
the crucial inter-Korean talks -- the first since the Lee Myung-bak
administration took office in February last year.
In a message faxed on Thursday, the North proposed meeting on Tuesday next week
in the joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, where a
South Korean worker has remained in detention since March 30, Seoul's Unification
Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said in a briefing.
Seoul will accept the offer, said an official at the presidential office Cheong
Wa Dae, requesting anonymity as the decision has yet to be officially announced.
"There is no reason for us to reject the proposal," said the official, who is
involved in North Korean affairs.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim said North Korea wants to discuss "issues
(related to) the Kaesong industrial complex." He did not elaborate on North
Korea's message, but a ministry source said on condition of anonymity that the
North had an unidentified "important notice" to give.
"The North did not say what the important notice would be, whether it involves
the matter of the detained employee or the matter of operating the Kaesong
complex," the source said.
North Korea has been holding the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., the developer of
the Kaesong complex, on accusations that he criticized its political regime and
tried to tempt a female North Korean worker to defect. Pyongyang has refused
Seoul's calls to allow access to the unidentified employee.
Speculation has mounted that the North may try to shut down the last remaining
inter-Korean venture in retaliation against Seoul's conservative policy.
Cross-border tourism projects were all suspended last year as political relations
froze.
More than 100 small garment and labor-intensive South Korean factories operate in
the Kaesong complex -- the last remaining symbol of cross-border reconciliation
efforts over the past decade -- employing 39,000 local workers.
The proposed talks come at a sensitive time for South Korea's Lee Myung-bak
government, which plans to announce its full participation in the Proliferation
Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S.-led campaign to interdict and seize transports
carrying weapons of mass destruction. Seoul has so far participated as an
observer.
North Korea is seen as a primary target of the initiative. Pyongyang has warned
Seoul that joining the PSI will be tantamount to a "declaration of war."
After several delays already, South Korea on Saturday again postponed the PSI
announcement until after the proposed talks with North Korea.
"We need to take into considerations factors such as inter-Korean relations in
announcing the PSI participation," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"But there is no change in our stance (toward joining the PSI), and the issue is
separate from inter-Korean relations."
Defying international warnings, North Korea fired a long-range rocket on April 5,
prompting the U.N. Security Council to issue a condemnation saying the launch
violated a U.N. resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.
North Korea upped the ante by withdrawing from six-way nuclear disarmament talks
and expelling inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who have
been monitoring the country's main nuclear facility. The North also said it will
begin restoration of a nuclear reactor that was being disabled under a
disarmament deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea said it will "never" return to the six-party negotiations.
The North is also holding two female U.S. journalists who were arrested near its
border with China last month. Pyongyang said they will be tried in North Korea on
charges of illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
PSI, ADDS details)
By Byun Duk-kun and Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will meet next week to discuss
their joint industrial complex, Seoul officials said Saturday, following
Pyongyang's rare offer of talks amid heightened regional tensions.
Seoul promptly delayed its participation in a U.S.-led anti-proliferation drive,
which was expected on Sunday, apparently to avoid provoking Pyongyang ahead of
the crucial inter-Korean talks -- the first since the Lee Myung-bak
administration took office in February last year.
In a message faxed on Thursday, the North proposed meeting on Tuesday next week
in the joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, where a
South Korean worker has remained in detention since March 30, Seoul's Unification
Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said in a briefing.
Seoul will accept the offer, said an official at the presidential office Cheong
Wa Dae, requesting anonymity as the decision has yet to be officially announced.
"There is no reason for us to reject the proposal," said the official, who is
involved in North Korean affairs.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim said North Korea wants to discuss "issues
(related to) the Kaesong industrial complex." He did not elaborate on North
Korea's message, but a ministry source said on condition of anonymity that the
North had an unidentified "important notice" to give.
"The North did not say what the important notice would be, whether it involves
the matter of the detained employee or the matter of operating the Kaesong
complex," the source said.
North Korea has been holding the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., the developer of
the Kaesong complex, on accusations that he criticized its political regime and
tried to tempt a female North Korean worker to defect. Pyongyang has refused
Seoul's calls to allow access to the unidentified employee.
Speculation has mounted that the North may try to shut down the last remaining
inter-Korean venture in retaliation against Seoul's conservative policy.
Cross-border tourism projects were all suspended last year as political relations
froze.
More than 100 small garment and labor-intensive South Korean factories operate in
the Kaesong complex -- the last remaining symbol of cross-border reconciliation
efforts over the past decade -- employing 39,000 local workers.
The proposed talks come at a sensitive time for South Korea's Lee Myung-bak
government, which plans to announce its full participation in the Proliferation
Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S.-led campaign to interdict and seize transports
carrying weapons of mass destruction. Seoul has so far participated as an
observer.
North Korea is seen as a primary target of the initiative. Pyongyang has warned
Seoul that joining the PSI will be tantamount to a "declaration of war."
After several delays already, South Korea on Saturday again postponed the PSI
announcement until after the proposed talks with North Korea.
"We need to take into considerations factors such as inter-Korean relations in
announcing the PSI participation," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"But there is no change in our stance (toward joining the PSI), and the issue is
separate from inter-Korean relations."
Defying international warnings, North Korea fired a long-range rocket on April 5,
prompting the U.N. Security Council to issue a condemnation saying the launch
violated a U.N. resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.
North Korea upped the ante by withdrawing from six-way nuclear disarmament talks
and expelling inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who have
been monitoring the country's main nuclear facility. The North also said it will
begin restoration of a nuclear reactor that was being disabled under a
disarmament deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea said it will "never" return to the six-party negotiations.
The North is also holding two female U.S. journalists who were arrested near its
border with China last month. Pyongyang said they will be tried in North Korea on
charges of illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
