Unification minister urges North to respond to dialogue proposal

JEJU, South Korea, May 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister on
Thursday urged the North to respond to Seoul's dialogue proposal over a troubled
joint industrial park as tensions linger after Pyongyang canceled wage and land
contracts there.
Hyun In-taek said efforts are underway to resume government-level talks with
Pyongyang, which said last week it had scrapped all inter-Korean contracts and
would present new terms regarding the joint park in the North's border town of
Kaesong.
Pyongyang is also holding a South Korean worker at the joint park, who was
detained in March on charges of criticizing the communist state's political
system.
"What matters is North Korea's attitude, whether it is willing to resolve the
problem, and now is the time for North Korea to answer," Hyun told a student
audience at Cheju National University.
"Our government position is firm in trying to resolve the problem through
dialogue and negotiations, upon the principle of pursuing the stable growth of
the Kaesong industrial park," he said.
Seoul's latest official proposal to hold talks on May 15 drew no response from
North Korea, which announced annulment of the Kaesong contracts. Pyongyang had
earlier accused Seoul of disrupting inter-Korean dialogue by insisting on
discussing the detained worker, which the North says will not be on the agenda.
North Korea had proposed government-level talks last month to discuss "issues
related to the Kaesong industrial complex." In the first such talks on April 21,
North Korea demanded wage hikes and contract revisions but refused to discuss the
detained South Korean.
Hyun maintained that Seoul will continue to raise the detention issue as it is a
"fundamental issue" to the future of the Kaesong complex.
"If our citizens at Kaesong don't feel safe and if they are seized by threats and
anxiety, the Kaesong complex cannot achieve steady development," he said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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