ID :
56660
Tue, 04/21/2009 - 16:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/56660
The shortlink copeid
Talks delayed as Seoul, Pyongyang disagree on format
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 21 (Yonhap) -- Inter-Korean talks scheduled for Tuesday were being
delayed as the two nations could not agree on how their first meeting in over a
year should proceed, amid grim predictions about Pyongyang's intentions.
Seoul's delegation crossed the military demarcation line at around 8:45 a.m., but
had yet to meet with its North Korean counterpart, said Unification Ministry
spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.
Liaison officers met twice before noon in a joint industrial complex in the
North's border town of Kaesong, but they could not agree on the format for the
main talks, Kim said. North Korea refused to disclose who will be attending the
talks on its side and insisted the meeting take place inside its administrative
office in Kaesong, not its management office that oversees the joint venture.
"Consultations are still under way," Kim told reporters. The spokesman said there
has never been a case in which South Korean officials started cross-border talks
without knowing who their counterparts are. "That is not appropriate by common
sense," he said.
Pyongyang proposed the talks last week, only saying it had an "important notice"
to announce regarding the Kaesong complex, where a South Korean worker is being
held for a fourth week.
Seoul was hoping to hear about the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., a South Korean
company that operates the complex, but prepared for all potential scenarios as
the political climate remains jittery.
Tensions rose sharply after the North launched what it called a satellite on
April 5, a move the U.N. Security Council quickly condemned as violating a U.N.
resolution barring its ballistic activity. Pyongyang protested by withdrawing
from nuclear disarmament talks and expelling international monitors from its main
nuclear facility.
Risking further confrontation with Pyongyang, Seoul said it plans to enlarge its
role in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at
interdicting the flow of weapons of mass destruction.
"We will take the matter of the security of our citizens as our biggest concern
at today's meeting," Kim Young-tak, chief of the South Korean delegation and
director general of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project Bureau under Seoul's
Unification Ministry, was quoted as saying by the ministry.
A positive outcome of the talks, which watchers say is unlikely, would be that
the North announces his release.
The employee, in his 40s and identified only by his surname Yu, was detained by
the North on March 30 on charges of criticizing Pyongyang's political system and
trying to incite a female North Korean worker to defect. The North has so far not
allowed access to the worker.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, April 21 (Yonhap) -- Inter-Korean talks scheduled for Tuesday were being
delayed as the two nations could not agree on how their first meeting in over a
year should proceed, amid grim predictions about Pyongyang's intentions.
Seoul's delegation crossed the military demarcation line at around 8:45 a.m., but
had yet to meet with its North Korean counterpart, said Unification Ministry
spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.
Liaison officers met twice before noon in a joint industrial complex in the
North's border town of Kaesong, but they could not agree on the format for the
main talks, Kim said. North Korea refused to disclose who will be attending the
talks on its side and insisted the meeting take place inside its administrative
office in Kaesong, not its management office that oversees the joint venture.
"Consultations are still under way," Kim told reporters. The spokesman said there
has never been a case in which South Korean officials started cross-border talks
without knowing who their counterparts are. "That is not appropriate by common
sense," he said.
Pyongyang proposed the talks last week, only saying it had an "important notice"
to announce regarding the Kaesong complex, where a South Korean worker is being
held for a fourth week.
Seoul was hoping to hear about the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., a South Korean
company that operates the complex, but prepared for all potential scenarios as
the political climate remains jittery.
Tensions rose sharply after the North launched what it called a satellite on
April 5, a move the U.N. Security Council quickly condemned as violating a U.N.
resolution barring its ballistic activity. Pyongyang protested by withdrawing
from nuclear disarmament talks and expelling international monitors from its main
nuclear facility.
Risking further confrontation with Pyongyang, Seoul said it plans to enlarge its
role in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at
interdicting the flow of weapons of mass destruction.
"We will take the matter of the security of our citizens as our biggest concern
at today's meeting," Kim Young-tak, chief of the South Korean delegation and
director general of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project Bureau under Seoul's
Unification Ministry, was quoted as saying by the ministry.
A positive outcome of the talks, which watchers say is unlikely, would be that
the North announces his release.
The employee, in his 40s and identified only by his surname Yu, was detained by
the North on March 30 on charges of criticizing Pyongyang's political system and
trying to incite a female North Korean worker to defect. The North has so far not
allowed access to the worker.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
