(3rd LD) Leaders of two Koreas exchange messages for improved ties

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; UPDATES with North Korean report of meeting between Lee and
North Korean delegates in 8th para, minor changes)
By Byun Duk-kun and Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il exchanged verbal messages through Kim's special envoys Sunday,
Lee's office said, their first communication spurring hopes for a resumption of
cross-border dialogue.
Kim's message was delivered through a North Korean delegation that visited Seoul
to offer condolences to late former President Kim Dae-jung, the presidential
office Cheong Wa Dae said. The 30-minute meeting was Lee's first with North
Koreans since coming to power 18 months ago.
"The North Korean condolence delegation conveyed Chairman Kim's oral message
regarding progress of inter-Korean cooperation," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee
Dong-kwan told a news briefing, referring to the North Korean leader by his
official title, chairman of the National Defense Commission.
"In response, President Lee explained our government's consistent and firm North
Korea policy and asked the North Korean delegates to relay his message to
Chairman Kim," the spokesman said.
He quoted President Lee as saying, "There is no issue that the South and the
North cannot resolve if they talk with sincerity."
The presidential office did not disclose details of the North Korean leader's
message, "because of its sensitivity," according to the spokesman.
The spokesman said the meeting was held in a "serious and gentle" atmosphere. The
North's delegation, including Kim Ki-nam, a top secretary of the North's Workers'
Party, and Kim Yang-gon, a party department director in charge of inter-Korean
relations, expressed a wish for inter-Korean cooperation, the spokesman said.
The North's Korean Central News Agency later confirmed the meeting in a short
dispatch from Pyongyang that said, "Issues of developing relations between the
North and the South were discussed there."
The six-member delegation returned home shortly after the meeting on a special
flight arranged by the North's Air Koryo.
The fence-mending meeting coincided with a state funeral for the late Kim, whose
sunshine policy spearheaded inter-Korean cooperation during his 1998-2003
presidency. He held the historic first inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-il in
2000, initiating massive government aid to the North's frail economy and reunions
of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Relations rapidly chilled after the conservative Lee government took power with a
pledge to toughen up on the North's nuclear ambitions. Seoul halted government
aid, while Pyongyang suspended dialogue and threatened joint industrial ventures
in retaliation. North Korean media have routinely called Lee a "traitor."
In a dramatic shift from the standoff, the North Korean leader sent his close
aides to show his respects to the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In a letter to
the bereaved family, Kim Jong-il said the late president "did a lot for the
Korean people." His personal wreath was laid on the altar set up at the National
Assembly.
Cheong Seong-chang, an expert with the non-governmental Sejong Institute, said
the North Korean leader likely made weighty proposals in the message, possibly
new joint economic projects or even a third inter-Korean summit. The fact that it
was not disclosed tells a lot, Cheong noted.
"If his message was to convey a customary wish for better inter-Korean relations,
there is no reason to hold it back," he said. "That Cheong Wa Dae considered its
sensitivity and did not make it public means it may have been an invitation for
Lee to come to Pyongyang or some transformative measures to ease tension or boost
economic cooperation."
The top delegates -- Kim Ki-nam and Kim Yang-gon -- are "pragmatists" among the
North Korean elite, Cheong said. Kim Yang-gon, in a meeting with non-governmental
dignitaries on Saturday, called for direct inter-Korean trade, saying "North
Korea has lots of natural resources, but they are passed on through China."
The North Koreans arrived here Friday on what was to be a two-day trip. They
stayed an extra day to meet with the South Korean president.
A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said the president's meeting with the North
Koreans was "just a new beginning," and it's too early to expect a thaw in
inter-Korean relations. He also said the meeting was part of "protocol" to meet
foreign delegates to Kim's funeral.
"The South-North relationship is a special relationship, but the meeting tells us
that the relationship can be upgraded to the next stage only when the countries
come out of that special relationship and build a relationship that is
internationally sound and appropriate," the Cheong Wa Dae official said.
Ruling and opposition parties unanimously welcomed the historic meeting.
"Now the highest-level dialogue channel between the governments has been opened,
we expect this will be a starting point for the inter-Korean relations to set
smooth sail," Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, spokesman for the ruling Grand National Party,
said.
Rep. Woo Sang-ho, spokesman for the major opposition Democratic Party, said, "The
sluice gate has opened for inter-Korean dialogue through the death of former
President Kim Dae-jung."
Pyongyang has recently presented a series of conciliatory gestures after months
of provocative behaviors, marked by nuclear and missile tests. Former U.S.
President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang on Aug. 4 to hold lengthy talks with the
North Korean leader and bring two detained journalists home.
On Aug. 16, the North Korean leader met with Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of South
Korea's Hyundai Group, a major investor in the North, to reach a string of
reconciliatory accords restoring suspended tour projects and lifting business
restrictions.
In follow-up gestures, North Korea normalized cross-border traffic for South
Koreans, lifting bans it had imposed since December to protest Seoul's hard-line
policy. It also reconnected a direct communications channel operated by the Red
Cross at the truce village of Panmunjom.
Four South Korean fishermen have remained in custody of North Korea since their
boat strayed into North Korean waters in the East Sea on July 30.
Returning from the trip, the Hyundai chairwoman said the North Korean leader
touched on the detention issue during their four-hour meeting, amid reports the
crew's release was imminent.
bdk@yna.co.kr
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)