By Lee Min-hyung
North Korea is expected to raise the issues of Seoul-Washington military exercises and the repatriation of young North Korean waitresses who defected to the South at high-level inter-Korean talks slated for Friday.
In recent days Pyongyang has ramped up criticism of Seoul, urging the latter to stop the drills and return the 12 defectors. The regime views the issues as major bones of contention that are hampering the inter-Korean peace momentum.
Citing the Max Thunder air exercises between Seoul and Washington last week, Pyongyang threatened to cancel a planned summit with Washington.
Given recent inter-Korean conflicts, ranking officials from the two sides are expected to bring the issues to the table on Friday and seek to narrow their differences.
The government is taking a wait-and-see approach on the regime's demands, underlining the need to resolve the issues through continuing talks.
“It is not proper for us to make any public comments on some recent reports from North Korean media outlets,” South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said Wednesday at a media briefing.
“One thing that has not changed is that the two Koreas share the same idea of continuing to hold dialogue to resolve any problems.”
North Korea has sent peace signals to South Korea and the United States, pledging to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
In a show of its strong willingness for peace, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met South Korean President Moon Jae-in twice this year. Preparations are also under way for a meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
At Moon and Kim's first meeting on April 27, both sides signed the historic “Panmunjeom Declaration,” under which Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to stop any military provocations and engage in more cultural and diplomatic activities for lasting peace.
But the peace momentum began to hit a snag in mid-May when the regime canceled planned high-level talks with the South, citing the joint air drills that ended last week.
The regime vented its anger over the exercises, even threatening to cancel a scheduled Trump-Kim summit on June 12.
The repatriation issue is also another key agenda item expected to be raised at Friday's inter-Korean talks.
On Tuesday, the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean regime's mouthpiece, urged the South to return the defectors.
“The repatriation of the North Korean defectors will become an important momentum for sustainable improvement of inter-Korean relations and for brining peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” the KCNA said.
The propaganda outlet also called the South's possible denial of the demand a “grave criminal act” that goes against last month's peace agreements signed by the leaders of the two Koreas.