By Chung Min-uck
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged North Korea, Monday, to show "sincerity" via abiding by its international obligation of denuclearization if it wants to engage in talks.
The comments came in response to the North's offer made during its envoy's visit to Beijing last week, saying it was open to resuming the six-party talks.
"Our stance is that there should not be talks for the sake of talks, and North Korea must show its sincerity to the international community by implementing its past denuclearization pledges," Yun said in a media briefing to domestic and overseas media outlets at the ministry in downtown Seoul.
To achieve the goal of denuclearization, Yun said, Cho Tae-yong, the newly-appointed nuclear envoy, will visit nations involved in the six-party talks next month.
Choe Ryong-hae, the North Korean leader's special envoy, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Friday, and said his regime wants to return to the long-stalled talks to make a breakthrough in the current nuclear standoff.
The unexpected move by the North was considered, by many analysts here, a ploy to undercut Seoul's coordination with Washington and Beijing regarding the nuclear issue.
"We praise China for stressing the principle of North Korea's denuclearization," Yun said.
President Xi and other high-ranking Chinese government officials repeatedly urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions during their meetings last week.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Ministry of Unification rejected the North's previous proposal to jointly host a gathering to mark the 13th anniversary of the two Korea's June 15 Joint Declaration, and instead called on the North to accept the South's May 14 proposal to hold a working-level meeting on the stalled joint industrial complex of Gaeseong.
Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said in a statement that the North's position of persistently ignoring calls for direct talks between officials and only striving to make contact with civilian groups can only be viewed with suspicion.
"If the North really seeks better cross-border relations it should talk directly with Seoul to build trust instead of obsessing about the joint event with private groups," the spokesman said in a press conference. "Pyongyang should not try to stir internal discord within South Korea by calling for a joint gathering involving private organizations."
The June 15 declaration reached at the historic 2000 summit meeting between the late President Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il kicked off a period of rapprochement between the two countries that saw large scale bilateral cooperation and the expansion of economic ties.
"Seoul cannot accept plans to arrange a political event that can stir friction within South Korea, and the government has decided to effectively ban its citizens from participating in the event," said Kim.
Kim further said that what is needed at present is for the North to take steps to restore emergency hotlines that have been cut and engage in talks to normalize operations at the Gaeseong complex.
The inter-Korean complex located in the North's border city was the last remaining joint venture linking the two Koreas before all operations were suspended in early April after Pyongyang ordered all of its 53,000 workers their not to report for duty.
Seoul also pulled out all its companies' representatives shortly afterwards.
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| Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se |
The comments came in response to the North's offer made during its envoy's visit to Beijing last week, saying it was open to resuming the six-party talks.
"Our stance is that there should not be talks for the sake of talks, and North Korea must show its sincerity to the international community by implementing its past denuclearization pledges," Yun said in a media briefing to domestic and overseas media outlets at the ministry in downtown Seoul.
To achieve the goal of denuclearization, Yun said, Cho Tae-yong, the newly-appointed nuclear envoy, will visit nations involved in the six-party talks next month.
Choe Ryong-hae, the North Korean leader's special envoy, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Friday, and said his regime wants to return to the long-stalled talks to make a breakthrough in the current nuclear standoff.
The unexpected move by the North was considered, by many analysts here, a ploy to undercut Seoul's coordination with Washington and Beijing regarding the nuclear issue.
"We praise China for stressing the principle of North Korea's denuclearization," Yun said.
President Xi and other high-ranking Chinese government officials repeatedly urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions during their meetings last week.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Ministry of Unification rejected the North's previous proposal to jointly host a gathering to mark the 13th anniversary of the two Korea's June 15 Joint Declaration, and instead called on the North to accept the South's May 14 proposal to hold a working-level meeting on the stalled joint industrial complex of Gaeseong.
Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said in a statement that the North's position of persistently ignoring calls for direct talks between officials and only striving to make contact with civilian groups can only be viewed with suspicion.
"If the North really seeks better cross-border relations it should talk directly with Seoul to build trust instead of obsessing about the joint event with private groups," the spokesman said in a press conference. "Pyongyang should not try to stir internal discord within South Korea by calling for a joint gathering involving private organizations."
The June 15 declaration reached at the historic 2000 summit meeting between the late President Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il kicked off a period of rapprochement between the two countries that saw large scale bilateral cooperation and the expansion of economic ties.
"Seoul cannot accept plans to arrange a political event that can stir friction within South Korea, and the government has decided to effectively ban its citizens from participating in the event," said Kim.
Kim further said that what is needed at present is for the North to take steps to restore emergency hotlines that have been cut and engage in talks to normalize operations at the Gaeseong complex.
The inter-Korean complex located in the North's border city was the last remaining joint venture linking the two Koreas before all operations were suspended in early April after Pyongyang ordered all of its 53,000 workers their not to report for duty.
Seoul also pulled out all its companies' representatives shortly afterwards.
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