Seoul Opposes ‘Talks for Talks’ Sake’ With North
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Skeptical statements from South Korea’s foreign minister and North
Korea’s public silence on negotiations have cast doubt on the prospects
for reconvening six-nation nuclear talks.
North Korea's Nuclear Program By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: May 27, 2013
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea opposes engaging North Korea in another
round of “talks for talks’ sake,” its foreign minister said on Monday,
after a special envoy from North Korea reportedly told Beijing that it
was ready to return to the negotiating table.
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The North Korean envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, made the statement
when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, according
to official Chinese media. Reporting the same meeting, however, North
Korea’s state-run media reported neither Vice Marshal Choe’s comment nor
Mr. Xi’s call for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
That glaring gap between the two Communist allies cast doubt on the
prospects for reconvening the long-stalled six-nation talks designed to
end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. As the talks’ host, China
wanted to revive them after a hiatus of more than four years. But the
United States and South Korea insisted that reconvening the forum was
meaningless unless the North convinced them that it was serious about
giving up its nuclear weapons.
“We oppose talks for talks’ sake,” said Yun Byung-se, the South Korean
foreign minister, on Monday. “North Korea must demonstrate its sincerity
through action by honoring its international obligations and promises
regarding denuclearization.”
Asked to elaborate on what actions the North must take, Mr. Yun referred
to the international agreements the North had signed, as well as United
Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on the country. Those documents,
among other things, called on North Korea to freeze its nuclear
programs before their eventual dismantlement and accept nuclear monitors
from the United Nations. The North Korean envoy’s trip to Beijing last
week followed an easing of rhetoric from Pyongyang, which had for months
issued bellicose pronouncements, including threats to launch nuclear
strikes at the United States and South Korea.
But there has been no indication so far that the North was shifting its stance on nuclear weapons development.
Instead, its government on Saturday reaffirmed its new party line, which
calls for the country to rebuild its economy while “simultaneously”
expanding its nuclear arsenal. When President Park Geun-hye warned that
the North Korean approach would never work, the North taunted her on
Saturday, advising Ms. Park to learn first of the North’s “military
preparedness before learning how to change her skirt into trousers and
change her civilian dress into a military uniform.”
South Korea on Monday denounced North Korea's “derogatory comments.”
It also spurned a North Korean proposal to hold a joint celebration of
the June 15 anniversary of the 2000 inter-Korean summit agreement, which
had called for large South Korean economic investments in the North.
South Korea suspended the summit deal as inter-Korean relations
deteriorated in recent years over the North’s nuclear weapons
development and military provocations against the South. North Korea,
which seeks to revive the deal, invited South Korean civic and religious
groups to a joint celebration of the summit anniversary this year,
while ignoring the South’s repeated calls for government dialogue over
the fate of a joint industrial complex shut down in April.
North Korea stressed its desire to rebuild its moribund economy when its
special envoy met leaders in China, the country’s last remaining major
ally.
Leaders in Beijing hoped that North Korea would follow China’s example
of economic reform to attract foreign investments. But the North’s
nuclear weapons pursuit in defiance of United Nations sanctions has
deterred potential foreign investors. The country has so far dabbled in
limited economic policy changes aimed at boosting production at
collective farms and factories while maintaining a socialist control on
the economy.
The Associated Press on Monday quoted a North Korean government
economist as saying that the North had introduced new economic
management methods last month that relaxed state control of workers’
salaries. Under the change, introduced April 1, enterprises will be
allowed to set salaries from money left over after repaying the state
for its investment and putting aside funds for continued operation of
their businesses, the economist, Ri Ki-song, was quoted as saying.
Mr. Ri said that North Korea would retain socialist ownership of the
means of production. It remained unclear how the latest changes differed
from similar incentives that met with little success.
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