[USFK Forums] N. Korea postpones S. Korean minister's visit to Kaesong [Yonhap]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, March 18, 2006

(2nd LD) N. Korea postpones S. Korean minister's visit to Kaesong

2006/03/17 13:56

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has requested that the country's unification minister put off his scheduled visit to the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, the ministry said Friday.

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok was originally scheduled to visit the town on Wednesday for a meeting with South Korean workers and businesspeople in the industrial complex, according to the ministry.

"The North Korean side on Thursday requested the unification minister to postpone his trip to Kaesong complex until April," a ministry official said.

According to the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, the North has also requested that the country's former unification minister, Chung Dong-young, postpone his visit to the industrial complex until next month.

Chung, now head of the country's ruling Uri Party, had planned to visit the North Korean town about 5 miles north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, on March 29 with members of the newly elected party leadership.

"The North Korean side did not give reasons" for the abrupt postponement, the official said.

The North had earlier pushed back a scheduled round of ministerial talks this month to next month, citing the start of joint military exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces stationed here.

The annual joint defensive drills are mainly aimed at intercepting possible aggressions from the North, but Pyongyang accuses them of being part of U.S. attempts to prepare a preemptive war against it.

"We cannot but take note of the fact that despite our repeated strong demands, the U.S. announced its plan to start the provocative war exercises to invade the North," a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the North's Korea Central News Agency on Monday.

This year's joint exercises, Foal Eagle and RSOI (reception, staging, onward movement integration), are to be held for one week starting from next Saturday, and the North has been notified of their schedule and defensive nature, according to the joint command of the South Korean and U.S. combined forces.

The 18th round of ministerial talks, involving the South Korean unification minister and a senior councilor of the North, was to be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang from March 28 through 31.

Kwon Ho-ung, the North's chief delegate to the high-profile inter-Korean dialogue, told his South Korean counterpart in a telegram that he has no choice but to postpone their meeting until April because of the annual military exercise, "which threatens inter-Korean relations."
The ministry official said Minister Lee plans to reschedule his trip to Kaesong after the dates for the ministerial talks are set.

"The government also plans to arrange the Uri Party leadership's visit to the Kaesong complex at a later date after consulting with the party," the official said.

North and South Korea have remained divided since the end of 1950-53 Korean War, and still remain in a state of war since the fratricidal war ended only with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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