N. Korea Proposes Ministerial Talks
2003-04-21
North Korea, after rejecting inter-Korean talks for weeks, suggested to the South on Saturday (April 19) that the two countries hold their 10th ministerial talks from April 27-29 in Pyongyang. The proposal came just one day after the North announced its progress in reprocessing irradiated fuel rods that could produce nuclear weapons.
Senior Cabinet Councilor Kim Ryong-song, chief North Korean delegate for the high-level inter-Korean talks, made the proposal in a telephone message to his South Korean counterpart Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, Unification Ministry officials said Saturday.
Pyongyang's proposal, sent via the Panmunjom border village, is regarded as an answer to Seoul's request for the North to return to the talks in a Unification Ministry statement issued Friday.
South Korean officials welcomed the North's move to resume inter-Korean dialogue and said the government is likely to accept the North's offers for the first major inter-Korean talks since President Roh Moo-hyun took office Feb. 25. An answer could be sent across the Demilitarized Zone as early as today.
North Korea unilaterally canceled the 10th ministerial talks originally scheduled for April 7-9 in Pyongyang, cutting off contact with the South citing the U.S.-led war in Iraq and joint military drills South Korean was conducting with the U.S.
On April 17, North Korea asked the South for fertilizer and rice ''on humanitarian grounds,'' adding such aid would greatly contribute to overall inter-Korean ties.
Once the talks open, the Koreas are expected to tackle the issues of humanitarian assistance and economic cooperation projects that have been at a standstill.
However Seoul, which has accepted its exclusion from the Beijing talks on North Korean nuclear program between North Korea, U.S. and China this week, is expected to make the security situation a key item in the inter-Korean meeting.
''The government is likely to express a strong desire to take part in upcoming talks on nuclear crisis,'' according to a government official who asked not to be named.
North Korea has maintained that the nuclear issue is between Pyongyang and Washington. It said Friday that the Beijing trilateral meeting will be the beginning of bilateral dialogue, with China only acting as the host state.
Source : www.korea.net
