Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
South Korea ready to discuss Mt. Geumgang facilities with North Korea
In this undated photo provided Oct. 23 by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, visits the Diamond Mountain resort in Geumgang, North Korea. KCNA-Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung, Kim Yoo-chul
South Korea is ready to discuss the issue of the Mount Geumgang tourism project after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un abruptly ordered the complete demolition of “unpleasant-looking” South Korean facilities at the resort, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.
“We have to analyze North Korea's position on the Mount Geumgang tourism projects and how its next Geumgang business plan unfolds. Before responding to the North Korean leader's comments on the Geumgang project, again, we have to think about what the North plans to do. If necessary, we will talk to the North Korean government on the matter,” a senior presidential aide told reporters in a briefing.
Kim called for South Korean facilities at the resort to be redesigned and replaced with “modern” structures built by North Korean laborers. The Mount Geumgang project is a rare symbol of inter-Korean partnership. The project ended after a female tourist from South Korea was shot dead by a North Korean soldier in 2008.
Kim Jong-un claimed it was a “big mistake” for the resort to be recognized as the common property of the Koreas given the resort's location on North Korean soil, according to his government's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
But the Cheong Wa Dae official added the presidential office doesn't regard Kim's comments as “very serious” given the lack of active communications between the two Koreas since the tepid results of working-level denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea in Stockholm, Sweden, a couple of weeks ago.
“The North Korean leader ordered the demolition of South Korean facilities at the resort with cooperation with South Korea. We don't deny some expectations the order would probably provide some impetus in resuming communications between the Koreas,” the presidential aide said.
Separately, Seoul's unification ministry said it was on track to share the specifics of the North's intentions and possible hidden meanings with the presidential National Security Office and other relevant ministries.
As the North Korean leader was accompanied by his top confidants including First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui during his trip to the resort, political analysts in Seoul said the comments were aimed at reaffirming the regime's economic concerns. During the Stockholm talks, Washington representatives offered “low-level sanctions relief” to their North Korean counterparts including a partial reopening of the Geumgang resort as a benefit in return for the North's presentation of its detailed but quite comprehensive denuclearization steps.
A few hours after Kim's remarks on the resort, Sweden's special envoy for the Korean Peninsula Kent Harstedt said his country plans to send invitations to the United States and North Korea “within the next couple weeks” for a new round of nuclear dialogue in the Scandinavian country.
“We will issue new invitations to the two sides for new meetings at the time agreed upon by the two parties,” the envoy said at a press conference in Seoul. “We have to bear in mind that this is a very sensitive and complicated matter to discuss if you don't know each other ... So I still believe this is part of understanding each other better. Again I also need to say that North Korea hasn't closed the door for continuation of this important [meeting].”
Harstedt was in Seoul to meet top South Korean officials and scholars, including Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun and Seoul's top nuclear negotiator Lee Do-hoon.
Too hasty?
Some critics advised the South Korean government to assess its “too friendly” North Korean policy due to concerns over a complete collapse in inter-Korean relations.
Park Won-gon, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University, said South Korea should refrain from posing various “goodwill gestures” when it comes to carrying out inter-Korean policies, as the North will only take ill use of the South's need for talks with the North.
“Inter-Korean relations are a push-and-pull relationship, and historically, there has been no firm trust between the two sides,” the professor argued. “Under the current political circumstances, if the relations between the U.S. and the North improve, the inter-Korean relationship will follow suit.”
Park said Washington still holds the key for the development of inter-Korean relations. “Once Washington grants such small yet meaningful sanctions relief to Pyongyang, the two Koreas will naturally resume talks to discuss details over the issue.”
Shin Beom-chul, a senior analyst from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, concurred the South Korean government does not have to remain too hasty in developing inter-Korean relations, as the North was aiming to get “political gains” from the South's gestures.
Shin said the South Korean government needs to handle inter-Korean issues with a long-term perspective. The administration does not contemplate details on the North's nuclear threats and its volatile nature, but only leaves the door open for dialogue with the North, which the expert argued is a bit risky.
“One thing the South should never give up is its willingness to receive pledges from the North on the complete nuclear disarmament of the peninsula,” he said.