By Kang Hyun-kyung
North Korea has shown conciliatory gestures since the turn of this year, proposing a string of inter-Korean talks.
Observers say the reclusive nation’s eagerness for such dialogue is intended to turn the tide from sanctions put in place after its military attacks last year, as it faces acute food shortages.
However, they forecast an uphill battle for Pyongyang to “switch gears,” because its uranium enrichment facility remains a stumbling block.
On Wednesday, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification accepted North Korea’s repeated calls for Red Cross talks on reunions of separated family members living in the two Koreas.
The response came a day after military officials of the two sides started a working-level meeting to set the date, venue and agenda items for high-level military talks.
Both countries seemed to speak in different languages with regard to the Pyongyang’s attacks in the West Sea. The North torpedoed the warship Cheonan near the maritime border last March, killing 46 sailors. Eight months later, it shelled a South Korean island in the West Sea, killing four South Koreans, including two civilians. Hundreds of houses were damaged in fires started by the artillery attack.
South Korean officials, who sat down face-to-face with their North Korean counterparts at the working-level military talks Tuesday, found something new in North Korean delegates’ demeanor.
They reportedly showed unprecedented enthusiasm for the high-level military talks at the meeting in the truce village of Panmunjeom.
One of the North Koreans was quoted as saying that the representatives who will attend the high-level talks will be able to deliver the North’s official position on the two attacks, if the talks were held.
The distinct change fanned speculation that the North urgently needs to open dialogue with the South.
Experts have pointed out acute food shortages in the North as the main reason for dialogue. If not properly handled, they warned, crop shortages could lead to social instability and this will pose a grave threat to its dynastic leadership succession.
According to a report jointly released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) last year, North Korea needs to import 867,000 tons of crops.
The report raised the need for international food assistance for the North, saying women and children were grappling with malnutrition and hunger.
The North reportedly requested China and the United States last year to send it food aid. Earlier, a Japanese newspaper reported that China vowed to send 500,000 tons of rice to the North by this January.
Unless the North takes specific action regarding its uranium enrichment program, it would be hard to see the six-party denuclearization talks, regarded as a conduit to international aid, resumed.
In January, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao concurred during their summit that the North needs to take necessary measures to resume the stalled denuclearization talks. In the joint statement released after the summit, the two leaders expressed concern over the North’s uranium program.
A high-ranking government official told reporters on condition of anonymity in January that any North Korean apology for the attacks on South Korea last year would not be enough to resume dialogue. He added North Korea’s uranium program posed a grave threat to international security.