Friday, June 5, 2009

South and North Korea to talk - S Korea accepts North’s call after nuclear blast

South and North Korea to talk - S Korea accepts North’s call after nuclear blast
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: June 5 2009 11:16 | Last updated: June 5 2009 11:16
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/415f15a6-51b8-11de-b986-00144feabdc0.html


South Korea on Friday accepted a call for talks from North Korea amid escalating political and military tensions on the peninsula.

North Korea asked for a meeting next Thursday to discuss the Kaesong industrial complex, a trade zone where South Korean companies invest in the North, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.

While the talks mark the first positive development between the neighbours in weeks, a similar round in April did little to ease the tensions.

Pyongyang sparked world condemnation by detonating a nuclear bomb last week and firing a long-range missile over Japan in April. On Thursday, a North Korean patrol boat crossed into South Korean waters, where fears of a military clash are running high.

North Korea is also trying two US reporters, accusing them of crossing the border from China illegally and committing undefined “hostile acts”.

”We believe North Korea must co-operate with us to help develop the Kaesong complex and that we must meet and discuss ways to normalise the joint project,” said Lee Myung-bak, the president of South Korea. ”Our country…is ready to meet with North Korea for discussions on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and inter-Korean cooperation.”

In April, the talks degenerated after time was spent bickering over where negotiations would be held, before both parties read statements of their positions. North Korea demanded more money from South Korean companies that run factories in Kaesong, wanting an earlier start to lease payments and a higher minimum wage.

Pyongyang has said South Korean companies are “free to leave” if they do not meet these terms. South Korea has long valued Kaesong as a means to foster political rapprochement and analysts have long doubted that North Korea would ever close this source of much-needed foreign currency.

South Korea’s unification ministry says its priority in these negotiations is securing the release of an imprisoned worker, known only as Mr Yu. North Korea accuses him of slandering the communist state’s leaders and encouraging a woman to defect.

Analysts are split on North Korea’s motives for its latest round of belligerence. Some reckon the country’s ailing dictator, Kim Jong-il is simply trying to wring money out of the international community. Others think he is making an internal show of strength to ensure the succession of his third and youngest son.

James Steinberg, the US deputy secretary of state, and Stuart Levey, the top Treasury official for terrorism and financial intelligence, are touring Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Moscow to work out a diplomatic response that may include tightening sanctions on the regime in Pyongyang.

Freezing North Korean assets, sanctions of small arms and travel bans on North Korean officials could all hurt Pyongyang, diplomats say. But few sanctions can bite unless Beijing puts its weight behind them. In the past, it has been reticent, fearing collapse in Pyongyang would send streams of refugees over its border.

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