Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Seoul revs up efforts to improve inter-Korean ties
Unification Minister Lee In-young, right, fist bumps with Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming during the latter's courtesy visit to the ministry in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Top Chinese diplomat to come to Korea Friday
By Kang Seung-woo
Unification Minister Lee In-young has doubled down on his plan to engage with North Korea, seeking to create a favorable environment for inter-Korean projects through meetings with a series of envoys from neighboring countries, according to diplomatic experts, Wednesday.
Lee met with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris, Tuesday, followed by his talks with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming, Wednesday. Lee is also expected to sit down with Japanese Ambassador Koji Tomita next week. According to the ministry, these meetings are courtesy visits to the new minister, who took office last month.
“Lee is seeking to break through the deadlock in inter-Korean relations by any means, but with the North remaining unresponsive, he intends to build an environment, which is conducive to improving bilateral ties between Seoul and Pyongyang,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.
In talks with Harris, Lee said the South Korea-U.S. working group needs to be revamped as it has sometimes served as a stumbling block to improvements in inter-Korean ties, asking the U.S. to support inter-Korean projects. The working group is a joint Seoul-Washington entity coordinating Pyongyang-related issues.
In a meeting with Xing, Lee asked for more efforts from China for peace on the Korean Peninsula. The government has pushed for individual tours by South Koreans to the North through a travel agency in a third country, or China.
“The unification minister may have asked the Chinese government to use its influence to realize the project,” Park said.
At the same time, the foreign envoys are using the meetings for a sneak peek of the Moon Jae-in administration's policies toward the North, according to Shin Beom-chul, the director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
“Whenever a new minister takes office, ambassadors make a courtesy visit. However, the counterpart of each embassy is the foreign ministry, but given that Lee is an influential minister, the envoys may weigh in on the government's future plans toward the North via the meetings,” Shin said.
“In that respect, Lee explained to the ambassadors his ideas to facilitate inter-Korean affairs.”
Shin believes that President Moon may once again try to become a facilitator in the denuclearization talks between the North and the U.S. with the Lee appointment, but that this is not the right time for the South to ask the North to return to negotiations.
“The current deadlock is due to the North's refusal to engage with the South and the changing point is likely to come after the U.S. presidential election in November. If U.S. President Donald Trump wins reelection, the North is likely to resume talks with the U.S. and subsequently, the South would have an opportunity to do something for inter-Korean affairs,” he said.
“What the government can do now is to hold back-channel negotiations with the North to offer aid for the recent floods, which could pay off, rather than seeking cooperation on nuclear issues.”
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, Cheong Wa Dae announced that Yang Jiechi, a leading Chinese diplomat, will make a two-day visit to Busan starting Friday for talks with Suh Hoon, the new director of the National Security Office.
The meeting between Suh and Yang is scheduled for Saturday, where they are expected to discuss Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to South Korea in the second half of the year. Cheong Wa Dae did not disclose who Yang will meet besides Suh during his stay.