South Korea Says Talks With North Korea Must Include Attacks
South Korea said it was willing to meet North Korea only if the talks discuss how Kim Jong Il’s regime is going to take responsibility for last year’s attacks that killed 50 of its people.
“For any meaningful dialogue, we need North Korea to take responsibility for the attacks and to assure such aggression won’t occur again,” the South’s Unification Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement. North Korea must also show sincerity in its commitment to give up nuclear weapons, the ministry said.
South Korea issued the statement in response to North Korea’s proposal today for working-level talks on Jan. 27 to set a time and place for higher-level dialogue. In a separate notice, North Korea also suggested holding talks between each country’s Red Cross officials on Feb. 1, according to the ministry and the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea’s proposal is “just aimed at receiving economic cooperation and aid,” the Unification Ministry said. South Korea instead suggested talks to discuss the attacks and the North’s nuclear program.
North Korea on Jan. 8 sought discussions on resuming operations of a tourist resort on its east coast, jointly operated with South Korea, and other economic projects. South Korea suspended the Mount Geumgang development after a North Korean soldier shot and killed a 53-year-old South Korean tourist there in July 2008.
The overtures follow weeks of combative rhetoric from Kim’s regime as tensions rose since its Nov. 23 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong island that killed four South Koreans. North Korea is also blamed for torpedoing a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bomi Lim in Seoul at blim30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Hong Kong at phirschberg@bloomberg.net
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