NK Leader Seeks to Improve Inter-Korean Ties
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak met with North Korean delegates visiting Seoul to pay respects to the late former President Kim Dae-jung Sunday to discuss the stalled inter-Korean relations, a Blue House spokesperson said.
The delegation, led by Kim Ki-nam, secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, delivered an oral message from their leader Kim Jong-il about advancing bilateral cooperation between the two Koreas.
Lee told the delegates to convey the "consistent and firm" principles of his North Korea policy to Defense Commission Chairman Kim, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters, without elaborating on what was discussed at the half-hour meeting.
The spokesman said the presidential office decided not to release public details of Chairman Kim's message, but implied that it generally gave the impression that he wants inter-Korean cooperation.
He did not mention whether the North Korean leader offered to meet with President Lee.
Kim, chief of the delegation, was said to have expressed special thanks to President Lee for meeting them, as well as his hope that the two Koreas would solve everything through cooperation.
President Lee did not raise specific issues, such as North Korea's nuclear-development program and return of the detained South Korean fishermen, during the meeting said the spokesman.
When asked whether the two Koreas would resume dialogue, spokesman Lee said talks focused on the principles of inter-Korean relations. But he recalled the president's speech made on Liberation Day, Aug. 15, in which he offered to resume aid to the North once it scraps its nuclear weapons.
The spokesman said, "The government will see what North Korea will propose after Chairman Kim gets briefed on President Lee's message from the delegates."
The Northern delegates returned to Pyongyang late on Sunday, after ending their three-day trip to Seoul during which they conveyed the North Korean leader's condolences to the late former President's family and met with Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o and Democratic Party Chairman Chung Sye-kyun.
Hopes are high here that their visit will pave the way for the resumption of inter-Korean talks and joint economic projects, which have been suspended amid tension over the North's nuclear and missile threats.
President Lee has maintained a tough stance on Pyongyang, saying repeatedly that it won't get any economic benefits unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. He recently said that economic aid to the North by South Korea's liberal governments from 1998 to 2008 helped build its nuclear facilities.
"Lee stressed in a meeting with North Korean delegates that the inter-Korean relations will improve if both sides deal with each other through dialogue in a sincere manner," spokesman Lee said, adding that the meeting was part of the protocol to greet foreign delegates to the funeral for the late former President Kim.
The Northern delegates initially planned to return home Saturday but extended their trip to meet with Lee, following their talks with Unification Minister Hyun. Their meeting marked the first get-together between high-level officials of the two Koreas since the inauguration of President Lee in February 2008.
Other North Koreans who attended the Blue House meeting included Secretary Kim, Kim Yang-gon, the North's point man on South Korea and a close aide to Kim Jong-il, and Won Tong-yon, an official from the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.
From the South, Unification Minister Hyun, Kim Sung-hwan, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, and other officials were on hand, the presidential office said.
Sunday's meeting also came as four South Korean fishermen remain in custody of North Korea since their boat strayed into northern waters in the East Sea July 30. The North freed a South Korean worker Aug. 13, who had been detained for more than four months, in an apparent bid to ease tensions with South Korea following the release of two American journalists.