By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea told South Korea, Sunday, to get positive about the resumption of dialogue or face stern punishment.
“Inter-Korean relations are still strained as in the past and we’ve not even laid the groundwork to resume dialogue,” the North’s National Defense Commission said through the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. “The South has misinterpreted, distorted and ridiculed our offers that were made with sincerity. We ask to them to refrain from doing so.”
The commission claimed Seoul is denouncing Pyongyang as if the latter has made such offers as a means to escape from economic impoverishment and international isolation.
The latest threat by the North comes at a time when the South has not positively addressed its two biggest grievances — activists’ floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border, and joint military exercises with the United States.
The two Koreas are widely seen as engaging in a tug of war for better terms before they sit down for talks.
The Ministry of Unification, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said such a claim was “one-sided.”
“North Korea should not be making one-sided claims repeatedly and instead come to the table to engage in discussions openly.”
Experts say that Pyongyang is trying to step up its pressure on Seoul.
“North Korea is still interested in resuming inter-Korean dialogue. However, it wants South Korea to remain clear, not ambiguous, in its stance over lingering issues,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
The government has not prohibited defector-turned-activists from floating the balloons over the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Pyongyang, on the other hand, is furious about the leaflets that denounce its leader Kim Jong-un.
The North’s comments came after Seoul hinted at changing its stance.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae indicated tours to Mt. Geumgang in the North might be resumed. The tour suspension was included in the May 24, 2010, punitive measures, which banned all trading and commercial activities between the two sides — except at the Gaesong Industrial Complex — in retaliation for Pyongyang sinking the South Korean frigate Cheonan in March of that year.
“The Park government should come up with a vivid and clear change in its North Korea policy to soothe Pyongyang,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute. “Otherwise North Korea will continue to raise doubts on South Korea’s intention to engage in inter-Korean dialogue.”
Pyongyang still refuses to punish those who were responsible for the shooting death of South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja during a cross-border tour to the scenic mountain resort in North Korea in July 2008. The death of Park, a 52-year-old housewife, led to the suspension of the program that was initially launched in November 1998.
The Park administration has put priority on thawing inter-Korean ties amid optimism for a summit between the two Koreas this year, according to Minister Ryoo.
“The tour project was initiated and inherited by the past governments and we’re willing to re-start it,” he said during an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Friday.
“The conflict over the program centers on the death of the tourist.
The resort, the brainchild of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-young, had been a major cash cow for North Korea. Some 2 million people traveled to the resort before the shooting, generating millions of dollars of income for the impoverished regime.
Seoul has been cautious about scrapping the measures as it could violate a series of U.N. sanctions aimed at preventing the military state from developing weapons of mass destruction.