[USFK Forums] North Stresses Kinship with South at Meeting [JoongAng]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, December 14, 2005]
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North Stresses Kinship with South at Meeting

The JoongAng Daily, December 14, 2005 ㅡ Amid mounting tension between the United States and North Korea over Washington’s financial sanctions against Pyongyang, North Korea’s envoy stressed the bond between the two Koreas at the inter-Korean cabinet-level talks, which began on the South’s Jeju Island yesterday.

At a welcome dinner hosted by the South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, Kwon Ho-ung, chief delegate for North Korea, urged that both Koreas trust and cooperate with each other for their joint future. When the two Koreas live in harmony and put their power together, the fate of Korea will advance smoothly, he said. We share one blood and destiny.

Seoul originally intended to use this week’s inter-Korean meeting to discuss pending issues, such as cross-border railroad connections and the Kaesong industrial complex, but the cloudy prospect of the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks influenced the South to change its agenda.

Seoul officials said South Korea will try to persuade the North to return to the nuclear talks. North Korea’s response will be relayed to Washington when Minister Chung visits the United States on Sunday, South Korean officials said.

We will have to listen to the North’s position [about Washington’s financial sanctions] first, and then let the North Koreans know that they should act flexibly to resume the six-nation talks,” a South Korean delegate for the ministerial meeting said.

Seoul also plans to urge Pyongyang to hold military talks as agreed in past meetings. In return, the North is expected to ask the South to provide large scale support for its light industry.

Seoul also plans to discuss the return of South Korean prisoners of war and abductees still alive in the North. Outside the talks venue at the Lotte Hotel on Jeju, families of the POWs and abductees held a rally, demanding the two Koreas make tangible progress on the repatriation issue.

by Ser Myo-ja