By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea will seek to develop mineral resources in North Korea, which is expected to be of benefit to the two Koreas, the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday.
Briefing President Lee Myung-bak on its policies for the New Year, the ministry reaffirmed that the South will continue to give humanitarian aid to the famine-hit North.
``The government has proceeded with its North Korea policy of `mutual benefits and co-prosperity' for stable, productive inter-Korean relations,'' Unification Minister Kim Ha-joon said.
He said his ministry would promote inter-Korean cooperation to develop underground resources in Dancheon, North Hamgyeong Province with private investment.
Joint measures are needed to protect and nurture forests for low-carbon, green growth, which President Lee Myung-bak has underlined as an essential step to help Korea become an advanced country, he added.
The ministry is considering negotiations with Pyongyang on the extension of existing inter-Korean railways through North Korea to Russia and China.
In addition, the ministry is willing to support a project to link gas pipelines to Russia, something the Russian and South Korean leaders agreed on Sept. 29, the minister said.
Reiterating that Seoul is willing to talk about the implementation of the Oct. 4 accord signed between former President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korea leader Kim Jong-il in 2007, the minister said the cooperative projects appear in the agreement.
The minister also mentioned that a joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Gaeseong should be stably operated even though the Stalinist state restricted border crossings and kicked out some South Korean personnel from the site from Dec. 1 last year.
Despite the frosty relations between the two Koreas, the ministry vowed to continue making efforts to improve contacts on humanitarian issues.
It will try to resume the reunions of displaced families and hold them on a regular basis, Kim said.
As members of separated families get older and some have passed away due to old age, the ministry said it will primarily seek an opportunity for families and relatives to visit their hometowns in the North.
South Korea built a reunion center at Mt. Geumgang resort last July.
The minister also promised to increase efforts to bring South Korean abductees and prisoners of war (POW) home but refused to elaborate.
According to the ministry, at least 1,050 South Koreans are detained in the North, an allegation Pyongyang denied.
Urging North Korea to respond to Seoul's call for dialogue, Kim said the ministry will seek talks through a range of channels.
More education programs on inter-Korean unification will be also introduced for the nation's adolescents from 2009, he said.