N. Korea calls for end to enmity with U.S., hints at return to nuclear talks

(ATTN: ADDS comments from analysts, N. Korean statement on economic reconstruction;
RECASTS lead, headline; RESTRUCTURES; TRIMS)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea expressed hope Friday in a New Year's
message for an end to enmity with the United States and reaffirmed its commitment
to a Korean Peninsula cleared of nuclear arms through negotiations.
The statement carried in the joint newspaper editorial comes after a U.S. special
envoy visited Pyongyang last month to press for the resumption of six-nation
talks that focus on North Korea's nuclear arms ambitions.
The talks -- involving the U.S., the divided Koreas, China, Russia and Japan --
were declared dead last year by North Korea when it protested U.N. censure of its
April long-range rocket launch.
In the editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea
said it remains consistent in its efforts "to establish a lasting peace system on
the Korean Peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations."
"The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula
and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the
DPRK and the USA," the editorial was quoted as saying in a separate
three-paragraph piece that did not elaborate. DPRK stands for the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, the North's official title.
The North, which conducted its second atomic test in May last year, justifies its
pursuit of nuclear arms by claiming the U.S. has yet to abandon its intention to
invade the communist country.
The enmity traces back to the truce that halted the 1950-53 Korean War, which
technically continues, leaving China and North Korea in a state of conflict with
the U.S. and South Korea.
"The editorial tells us the North will likely push for a forum grouping the four
countries to produce a tangible declaration of some sort to terminate the truce"
and forge a peace treaty, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of
North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Yang said the editorial indicates that the North has decided to embrace a process
in which enmity with the U.S. is resolved at the same time as the six-nation
nuclear negotiations take place.
The editorial, jointly issued by the North's ruling party, army and youth
military, is scrutinized by observers as it is considered a blueprint for the
isolated state's policy goals for the coming year.
Faced with economic plight that leaves many of its 23 million people
impoverished, North Korea declared it will focus on raising its standard of
living by revamping its light and agricultural industries.
The editorial was reportedly titled "Bring about a radical turn in the people's
standard of living by accelerating the development of light industry and
agriculture once again this year."
"North Korea has been faced with deepening economic trouble, and it needs stable
foreign relations if it wishes to push for its goal of economic reconstruction,"
said Kim Keun-shik, a North Korea professor at Kyungnam University. "2010 is an
important year for the North to pave the ground for its economic revival."
Under a slogan calling for efforts to become "a strong and prosperous nation" by
2012, the North last year launched a series of mass campaigns to increase its
industrial production.
It also went ahead with the first currency revaluation in 17 years in an apparent
attempt to root out market activities outside government control and reassert its
control on trade and inflation.
"The light and agricultural industries are the focus here. That seems to be
because the government needs to take care of people's basic necessities and food
after the currency reform," said Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea professor at Korea
University.
The moves came as North Korea reportedly tried to engineer a power succession
from leader Kim Jong-il to his third son, Jong-eun. The senior Kim, a 68-year-old
who relies on a massive cult of personality, is believed to have suffered a
stroke in 2008, triggering concerns his death may lead to a power struggle and a
sudden regime collapse.
"The focus on the standard of living shows that the regime is trying to solicit
legitimacy for its power succession from the people," said Jang Yong-suk, a
researcher at the Institute for Peace Affairs.
The editorial also stressed the North's 1.2-million-strong army should hold
"aloft the slogan 'Let us defend with our very lives the leadership of revolution
headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong-il.'"
The editorial gave no hints as to the possibility of succession, while South
Korean analysts and officials estimate the power handover may be completed as
early as next year.
The South's Unification Ministry, calling the editorial a positive sign of
reconciliation, struck an optimistic note that the North will seek improved
crossborder ties this year.
Inter-Korean relations began to deteriorate after South Korean conservative
President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008. The navies of the countries
also collided in a brief gunfight off the west coast of the peninsula in November
last year.
"We see no denunciation of the South Korean government and believe the North has
clearly signaled its willingness to improve ties," an official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
The call for a thaw with the outside world comes as an American Christian
missionary remains detained in the North after walking across the border from
China pressing world leaders to address human rights issues in the communist
country.
In March last year, former U.S. President Bill Clinton flew to the North to
secure the release of two American journalists who crossed into the state from
China and spent more than four months in jail.
North Korea has issued a joint newspaper editorial on New Year's day as its
policy blueprint since 1995. Some analysts say the message has less authority
than before. Until 1994, Kim Il-sung read the New Year message aloud on
television and radio.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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