Seoul rejects Pyongyang's demand to meet this week: sources

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has proposed a meeting with the South this
week over a joint industrial park, but Seoul rejected the offer so as to take
more time for preparations, government and corporate sources said Thursday.
In a three-page document sent to Seoul on Monday, Pyongyang complained that the
South Korean government was procrastinating in scheduling a second round of the
inter-Korean talks and demanded it be held on Wednesday, the sources said.
The previous talks took place at the joint park in Kaesong on April 21, the first
government-level meeting since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February
last year. North Korea protested that wages South Korean firms pay North Korean
employees in the Kaesong park are too low and demanded negotiations to discuss
the issue.
Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun neither denied nor confirmed
the latest inter-Korean exchange of messages, but another ministry official
handling the Kaesong venture acknowledged it.
"Offering a date and rejecting it could be a kind of tug of war to gain an edge
in the next round of the talks," the official said, requesting anonymity.
North Korea gave Seoul little time to consider, he said, as it made the proposal
less than two days before the offered date.
The official added that bickering over an agreed upon date for the meeting is not
unusual and is a regular part of negotiations prior to the main talks.
Another source at Hyundai Asan Corp., the developer of the industrial park, said
Monday's document was passed on through the South Korean management office in
Kaesong.
Since North Korea first demanded negotiations on April 21, South Korea has been
gauging the opinion of firms operating in Kaesong. Seoul appears to be walking a
tight rope between trying to revive political relations and ensuring the
continued viability of the Kaesong complex.
Concerns are running high that North Korea may not in fact intend to negotiate,
but instead force Seoul to either accept its demands or shut down the joint park.
The ministry spokesman declined to comment on the North Korean document, though
ministry sources said Seoul may officially reply to Pyongyang on Friday at the
earliest, with an offer to hold the talks next week.
South Korea's main concern is a Hyundai Asan Corp. employee who has been detained
in Kaesong since March 30 for allegedly criticizing North Korea's political
system. North Korea refused to discuss the issue, saying the talks are meant to
cover issues relevant solely to the industrial park.
In the first round of talks that lasted only 22 minutes, North Korea presented a
document that demanded South Koreans firms raise wages and also start paying for
land use from next year, four years ahead of schedule.
The Kaesong park, just an hour's drive from Seoul, opened in late 2004 as an
outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 that paved the way for
reconciliatory exchanges. More than 100 South Korean firms operate there,
producing clothes, utensils, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive
products with about 39,000 North Korean workers.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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