South Koreans head to joint liaison office after North's pullout
Vehicles carrying South Korean officials of the inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea head to Gaesong through the inter-Korean customs, immigration and quarantine office on Gyeongui Line in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap
Dozens of South Korean officials headed to an inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea on Monday, the unification ministry said, despite Pyongyang's abrupt pullout of its staff from the office last week.
Around 40 South Korean officials crossed the western land border on their way to the liaison office in the North's border town of Gaesong, according to the ministry. Together with about two dozen people already there, about 60-70 South Korean officials are expected to staff the office this week, officials said.
Their dispatch came despite the North's withdrawal of its staff from the office Friday.
The North did not give a clear reason for the pullout, only saying the decision was based on an order from "higher-ups." Experts and analysts said the move appears to be designed to pressure Seoul to do more to persuade the United States to lower its demands in the stalled denuclearization negotiations.
"Previous governments had endeavored to open a round-the-clock communication channel between the two Koreas, and the South-North joint liaison office opened last year as a result," Kim Chang-su, deputy head of the office, said before crossing the border.
Deputy head of the inter-Korean liaison office in Gaesong Kim Chang-su, left, and other officials of the office arrive at the inter-Korean customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, to head to the North Korean city, Monday. Yonhap
"Though the North withdrew from the office, the embers of hope remain alive, and we intend to show up at work as usual to keep them alive," he added. "I will do my best on such things as protecting the safety and convenience of our workers and staff there."
The two Koreas opened the liaison office in September last year to foster their cross-border exchanges and reduce tensions by keeping a communications channel open all the time. It was a follow-up to an agreement their leaders reached in April.
They agreed to hold a weekly meeting between the office's co-heads to discuss pending issues, but since the breakdown of last month's summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, no such meetings have been held, though Seoul has insisted that there were no problems in communication with the North.
Kim and Trump met in late February in Hanoi, Vietnam, for their second summit but failed to strike a deal as they were at odds over how to match Pyongyang's denuclearization steps with Washington's concessions, including sanctions relief.
On March 15, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui threatened to abandon the negotiations, saying the regime had no intention to give in to Washington's "gangster-like" demands. She said Kim would decide soon whether to pursue talks and maintain his moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.
Hours after the North's pullout from the liaison office, Trump tweeted that he has ordered the withdrawal of a plan to impose additional sanctions on Pyongyang in what appears to be a move to send out a reconciliatory gesture to Pyongyang and keep nuclear talks on track. (Yonhap)