North Blames South Over Tourist Killing

Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong, left, looks pensive after expressing his sorrow for a family member of late Park Wang-ja, who was shot dead during her tour to Mt. Geumgang in North Korea Friday, in the funeral hall set up in a hospital in Seoul, Saturday. / Korea Times

Pyongyang Rejects Seoul’s Demand for Joint Investigation of Incident

By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The shooting of a South Korean female tourist in North Korea Friday will jeopardize all inter-Korean cooperation projects, chilling even further relations between Seoul's conservative government and the Stalinist state.

Observers warned Sunday that the death of Park Wang-ja, a 53-year-old housewife from Seoul, may take its toll on Seoul's efforts to bring inter-Korean talks back on track, and in the worst case scenario, put the two Koreas into Cold-War era confrontation mode.

Calls are expected to mount here for the suspension of all economic and humanitarian aid to the North. For North Korea's part, it may move to isolate South Korea in international talks regarding its nuclear weapons program, angered by the way President Lee Myung-bak has treated it and his policy of strengthening alliance with the United States, the observers say.

``Park's death cannot be justified under any circumstances,'' Lee said, Saturday, after an emergency meeting of top security officials. ``It is not understandable how an unarmed female tourist was shot dead by the North Korean military. We need a thorough investigation.''

Seoul immediately suspended the Mt. Geumgang tourism program, a major source of hard currency for the communist state.

The North expressed regret over Park's death, but refused to offer an apology. It rejected the South's offer to send officials to the tourism complex to investigate the case.

``The responsibility for the incident rests entirely with the South side. The South should make a clear apology and take measures to prevent the recurrence of a similar incident,'' the North said in a statement, Saturday.

It said the South's ``unilateral'' decision to suspend the inter-Korean tourism program is a ``challenge'' to the North.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said, ``The North is saying what we should say,'' in an apparent reference to the Korean proverb ``Save a stranger from sea and he will turn your enemy or ``The thief turns on the master with a club.''

Observers in Seoul said growing tension between South and North Korea over Park's death will raise uncertainties about inter-Korean relations.

``I feel very uncomfortable about the North's reaction to Park's death,'' said Seo Jae-jin, a North Korea expert at the Seoul-based Institute for National Unification. ``South Korea believes it should receive an apology from the North, but the North is demanding an apology. The North's reaction is not understandable and risks inter-Korean relations.''

Ko Yoo-hwan, a professor of studies on North Korea at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the North's reaction reflects its strong position on the conservative government of the South.

``North Korea is still showing antagonism toward Lee and his government although he pledged to resume inter-Korean dialogue. There are no immediate signs of a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations,'' Ko said.

Park's death overshadowed pledges by the South Korean President to reopen reconciliatory talks with the communist regime.

``Full dialogue between the two Koreas must resume,'' Lee said in his first address to the National Assembly, Friday, just hours before an announcement of Park's death. ``I will focus on ensuring the denuclearization of North Korea, and in tandem, we will seek mutual benefit and co-prosperity of the two Koreas.''

North Korea on Sunday dismissed Lee's proposal for the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr

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