South-North relations enter new phase
National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin, right, shakes hands with Hwang Pyong-so, director of the General Political Department of the (North) Korean People’s Army, after completing their four days of marathon talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Unification Ministry
Pyongyang regrets mine blasts, Seoul switches off loudspeakers
By Kang Seung-woo
South and North Korea have paved the way for rapprochement by reaching an agreement following four days of marathon talks to ease tension on the peninsula.
However, despite the deal, pending issues between the two sides are not offering a bright outlook for the future of inter-Korean relations, analysts said Tuesday.
The two Koreas agreed to defuse recently-escalated tension on the peninsula, with Pyongyang expressing regret over a land mine attack it carried out in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and promising not to provoke Seoul any further.
In response, Seoul stopped blaring propaganda messages critical of the Kim Jong-un regime into the North.
In addition, the two sides agreed to discuss resuming family reunions around the Chuseok holiday that falls on Sept. 27.
“It is good that South and North Korea reached the deal amid growing tension, but a lot of pending issues may prevent the two sides from further improving ties,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.
Chang Yong-seok, a senior analyst at Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification, also said that people have to see how the agreement plays outs.
“The North expressed regret over the landmine detonations to stop the propaganda campaign, but family reunion is the issue that the North can always propose and talks between the two sides have many uncertainties until they are held,” Chang said.
“Although the escalated tension was defused, there is a long way to go in shifting from confrontation to cooperation.”
In June 2013, talks between the two were cancelled due to a feud over the level of representatives assigned to attend; and a second round of high-level talks in late October or early November of last year was also scrapped due to the North’s protest against anti-NK leaflets.
In addition, the North’s nuclear weapons program and its potential test-firing of a long-range missile around Oct. 10, the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party, can also be stumbling blocks.
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said the agreement will be a “Rorschach Test” for interpreting either the beginning of a long awaited breakthrough in inter-Korean relations or yet another temporary defusing of a confrontation, according to Yonhap News Agency.
“While the risk of an immediate inadvertent military clash has receded, the underlying causes remain in place and the tense status quo remains,” he said.
National Security Office (NSO) chief Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo and Hwang Pyong-so, the North’s second-in-command and Kim Yang-gon, the top North Korean official in charge of inter-Korean affairs, had held high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom since Saturday in order to defuse tensions, sparked by an exchange of fire across the border, Thursday.
After the meeting, the two Koreas issued a joint statement focused on de-escalating tension and improving strained inter-Korean relations.
President Park Geun-hye said the two Koreas should follow through on the agreement.
“I hope that the deal will serve as an occasion to resolve all inter-Korean issues through trust,” Park was quoted as saying by presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook.
During a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae an hour after the end of the inter-Korean dialogue, Kim described the North’s move as “very meaningful.”
“The North expressed regret over the landmine explosions that recently took place on the southern side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the DMZ, wounding soldiers from the South,” he said.
The landmines planted in the southern part of the military border maimed the two South Korean soldiers, who were on routine patrol, and the South responded with the anti-North propaganda campaign that led the angered North to fire shells across the border.
“The South agreed to stop all loudspeaker broadcasts along the MDL starting at 12:00 noon on Aug. 25 as long as no abnormal incident occurs.”
As part of the accord, the North lifted its semi-war state ordered by the North Korean leader Friday when he deployed military assets to the border.
During the negotiations, the two sides also agreed to hold talks at an early date in Seoul or Pyongyang to improve inter-Korean relations.
According to the joint statement, the South and North agreed to arrange reunions of separated families on the occasion of Chuseok this year, continuing such reunions in the future, and to hold working-level Red Cross meetings in early September to that end.
“We expect the two sides will implement the agreement in good faith and create trust through dialogue and cooperation,” Kim said.
Under the Park administration, the two Koreas held two rounds of reunions between Feb. 20 and 25 last year at the Mt. Geumgang resort in the North the President has sought to hold the event on a more regular basis. In her Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, she also called for the North’s cooperation for family reunions.