Unification Minister Also Suggests Military Talks to Ease Tensions


By Seo Dong-shin & Joint Press Corps
Staff Reporter



South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, left, offers a toast to the North’s premier Pak Bong-ju during a welcoming reception in Pyongyang, Tuesday. /Newsis

PYONGYANG, North Korea _ South Korea proposed Wednesday that permanent liaison offices be set up in Seoul and Pyongyang, saying it would significantly help build trust between the two Koreas.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, the South’s chief delegate to the inter-Korean Cabinet talks, also suggested talks between military authorities, including defense ministers, be resumed to ease tensions.

The two Koreas still remain technically at war after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty. Recent working-level consultations have yet to fix a date for the third round of general-level military talks.

Chung presented the proposals in a keynote speech he delivered at the first session of the 16th round of inter-Korean Cabinet talks. The four-day talks ends Friday.

North Korea watchers in Seoul said establishing permanent liaison offices would secure a stable inter-Korean channel unlike previous irregular contacts at the truce village of Panmunjom, as the South and North will then have standing liaison officers stationed at each other’s capital. Seoul has repeatedly called for discussion on the matter since the 1980s. But the North has given no answer.

Other issues the South brought to the Pyongyang talks include the development of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and confirmation of lives of South Korean prisoners of war during the 1950-53 Korean War and those ``who went missing’’ after the war, called abductees believed to be alive in the North.

Chung, who chairs the presidential National Security Council, also called on North Korea to come up with a determination for a progress at the ongoing six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear program in Beijing, China.

``Settling peace on the Korean Peninsula is more important than ever at this juncture,’’ Chung said, urging the North to move toward an agreement at the Beijing talks. ``To tackle the matter, we have to resolve the nuclear issue first.’’

After ending the session, Chung also expressed regret over recent friction between North Korean authorities and Hyundai Asan, the South’s chief operator of tourism businesses in the North.

``As the tourism business at Mt. Kumgang in the North involved taxpayers’ money and the government’s support, we will actively try to mediate between the two parties,’’ Chung told reporters from Seoul, hinting at the possibility of raising the issue during the Cabinet talks.

Kwon Ho-ung, the North’s chief delegate, proposed that the South abolish ``out-of-dated laws that fail to recognize other countries’ systems,’’ apparently referring to the South’s anti-communist National Security Law.

He also demanded joint military drills between South Korea and the United States be stopped and inter-Korean economic cooperation be accelerated.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr