Hyun Says Pyongyang Remains Unchanged
By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said Wednesday that inter-Korean relations are facing a major turning point.
He said Pyongyang has yet to show a "fundamental change" in its attitude.
In his speech at a seminar in Seoul, Hyun said North Korea appears to be seeking improved relations with South Korea, as well as with the United States and Japan.
The seminar was hosted by the Korean-American Club. The club is a fraternity of former Korean correspondents to Washington.
"It seems North Korea believes it is time for them to mend fences with South Korea and other countries," Hyun said. "I believe Pyongyang will continue to maintain its shifted stance for the time being."
The communist state has recently made conciliatory gestures to the international community.
It released detained American journalists and South Koreans, agreed to hold reunions for separated families and lifted business restrictions for South Korean firms operating in the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.
Hyun said the North has restored inter-Korean relations to their condition in early 2008 by withdrawing a set of hardline measures out of its own will.
However, the minister, a former professor, said that Pyongyang's stance toward Seoul remains unchanged.
Citing news reports, Hyun said the North has succeeded in enriching uranium and shown no signs of abandoning its nuclear ambition.
Hyun stressed that without the North's complete disarmament of nuclear weapons, the two Koreas will never be able to achieve "true peace" and live in harmony.
He claimed that the nuclear issue has been and will always be a stumbling block to improving inter-Korea relations as long as the Stalinist state does not give up its ambition.
"The North Korea nuclear problem has gradually gotten worse, while repeatedly easing and exacerbating," Hyun said. "The North absolutely needs to improve international ties, but it will not be able to do so if it detours inter-Korean relations or does not give up nuclear weapons."
Asked about a possible inter-Korean summit, Hyun said the government has yet to review the matter, adding that South Korea and the U.S. will continue to deal with the North within the frame work of the six-party talks.
On the North's unannounced discharge of water from a dam on Sept. 6, which caused the death of six South Koreans, Hyun said that the government has yet to conclude whether the deadly release of water was intentional.