By Kang Seung-woo
South and North Korea are engaged in a tug of war in the run-up to potential inter-Korean dialogue, with each side refusing to waver from its preconditions.
The South proposed talks with the North late last month to discuss issues of mutual concern, including the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. But the North has been sitting on this offer, denouncing the South’s policy toward the reclusive country.
While hopes for improved inter-Korean relations are flagging, there are growing concerns that momentum gained around the beginning of the year could fade.
On Tuesday, while giving an indication that it is still willing to hold inter-Korea high-level talks, Pyongyang urged Seoul to stop its annual joint military exercises with Washington and ban anti-North leaflet campaigns staged by North Korean defectors, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“The government, political party and other groups held a joint conference to fulfill the New Year address by Kim Jong-un,” said the state-run news agency.
The North Korean leader suggested he was open to an inter-Korean summit in his New Year address.
After the meeting, the participants adopted "an appeal" for a resumption of cross-border dialogue that was addressed on Wednesday to the presidential office, the speaker of National Assembly, the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy and the Korean Red Cross, according to the unification ministry.
It added: “If South Korean authorities really want to improve inter-Korean relations, the stalled high-level talks will be available.“
A second round of high-level dialogue was scheduled to take place in October or early November, but was cancelled due to the North’s anger over the leaflet campaigns.
The totalitarian regime also claimed that 2015 ― the 70th anniversary of the liberation from Japan’s 45-year colonial rule ― should mark the first year without South-U.S. war games on the Korean Peninsula, in addition to an end to the cross-border leafleting campaign.
The regime has denounced the joint military exercises as a rehearsal for invasion of the North, and the propaganda leaflets across the border led to an exchange of heavy machine-gun fire between the South and the North on Oct. 10.
However, the South said earlier in the day that the North’s reference to a potential high-level meeting was not a response to its proposal for dialogue.
“It just repeated the New Year address and we do not regard it as the official response to our offer,” said Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol.
Another government official said, “The joint conference is a kind of subdivision meeting supporting Kim’s address.”
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae also said Monday that holding talks is the first step toward resolving distrust and military tension between the South and North.
“But the North has yet to come forward to respond and I am forced into a situation where skepticism over the North’s willingness to talk is inevitable,” he said.
An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said, “As the North is in less favorable conditions owing to sour ties with the U.S. and China, it appears to be more aggressive in dialogue with the South.
“Should the North drastically decide to do something to break the deadlock, such as a family reunions around the Lunar New Year, the two sides will see a thaw in bilateral relations.”
South President Park Geun-hye proposed the reunion event during her New Year speech.