S. Korea, U.S. to discuss proposed inter-Korean business

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States will coordinate a response to Pyongyang's latest overtures on inter-Korean relations when a senior U.S. envoy overseeing Washington's sanctions on the communist regime visits here this weekend, officials said Wednesday.

Amb. Philip Goldberg, coordinator for the implementation of the U.N. sanctions on
the North for its May nuclear test, was to leave for Asia within the day, leading
a delegation of related U.S. officials, according to the State Department. He is
scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Sunday for a two-day stay after traveling to
Singapore and Bangkok.
"The purpose of this trip... this inter-agency delegation is to discuss the
ongoing implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874. We
expect he will have meetings, of course, with counterparts in the respective
foreign ministries and finance ministries and other agencies involved in
inspections and customs issues and the like," the department's spokesman Ian
Kelly said in Washington.
Stuart Levey, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the
Treasury Department, is not included in the delegation this time, however, a
diplomatic source said.
Goldberg's trip comes as Pyongyang appears to be reaching out to Seoul. The North
on Monday announced that it would resume the joint tourism business with a South
Korean conglomerate, Hyundai Group, to Mount Kumgang along its east coast and the
ancient border city of Kaesong, which have been suspended for more than a year
owing to frosty inter-Korean relations.
The announcement followed a four-hour luncheon between North Korea's top leader
Kim Jong-il and Hyundai Group's chairwoman, Hyun Jeong-eun.
But Seoul remains cautious in responding, unsure of the North's intentions. South
Korean government officials are reviewing ways to follow up on the deal and hope
to resume government-level dialogue with Pyongyang to discuss related details.
"Of course, the issue will be discussed during Amb. Goldberg's visit," a senior
South Korean foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The North's proposal puts the allies to another test on their united strategy on
Pyongyang. The former Bush administration and South Korea's previous liberal
governments were often at odds with each other over how to deal with the North.
The inter-Korean ventures, if restarted, may hamper the U.S.-led campaign to curb
the inflow of hard currency into the North. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874
calls on each country to tighten financial sanctions on Pyongyang in a bid to dry
out its financial sources for the development of missile and nuclear weapons.
Trips by foreigners, mainly South Koreans, to Mount Kumgang and Kaesong, will
apparently funnel cash into North Korea. North Korea earned about US$10 million
annually from the tourism business to Mount Kumgang alone before it was halted
last year.
"The resolution does not refer to a commercial tourism activity itself. But a
problem is where the money is used. It is a matter not of legal judgment but a
political one," another ministry official said. "We need to consult on the issue
with related nations."
Meanwhile, a diplomatic source here said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei
is likely to end his trip to Pyongyang on Wednesday. He headed to the North on
Monday as part of efforts to persuade it back to the six-way nuclear talks.
South Korean officials said Wu's trip is "meaningful" but that it is unlikely to
yield immediate or tangible results.