NK Threat May Strain Inter-Korean Talks Today
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The North Korea-proposed talks over the operation of the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong are scheduled for today but prospects of the meeting being held are cloudy due to Pyongyang's threat issued Friday to suspend all inter-Korean dialogue.
Professor Yang Moo-jin said the warning would likely put a strain on inter-Korean talks.
"The statement issued by the North's National Defense Commission does not appear to be mere intimidation," Yang, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told The Korea Times.
"If the South Korean authorities offer no explanation regarding the reported action plan, the inter-Korean cooperation as well as general relations between the two sides will likely be strained for the time being."
Last Friday, the secretive state issued the strongly worded warning over South Korea's reported plan to deal with possible emergencies in the North.
The reclusive regime claimed that it would boycott inter-Korean dialogue and exclude Seoul from broader peace talks on the Korean Peninsula, possibly referring to the six-party denuclearization talks, if Seoul does not apologize.
South Korea expressed deep regret over the report, saying it was not true.
The two Koreas agreed last Thursday to hold a meeting to assess last month's joint inspection of industrial complexes in China and Vietnam.
North Korea later in the day issued a visit permit for 17 South Korean delegates.
Ten North Koreans led Pak Chol-su, vice chief of the Special District General Bureau, will take part in the two-day meeting, unification ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
In the meeting, North Korea is expected to renew its demand to raise the monthly salaries of 38,000 North Korean workers at the Gaeseong complex.
Last year, the communist state asked for a quadrupled salary of $300 for the workers and a $500 million fee for a 50-year use of the land there.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang rejected the U.S. demand that North Korea return to the six-way talks and instead called for discussions about a peace treaty.
"In order to resume the six-party talks, the cause of failure should be removed," a representative of the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the North's Central News Agency.
"If we join the six-party talks with a host of sanctions, they cannot be called fair negotiations."
A week ago, North Korea suggested having talks this year with concerned parties to replace the present armistice agreement with a peace treaty.
The United States, however, rejected the call and urged the secretive state to come back to the multilateral forum first.