NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 24 (October 9, 2008)

*** INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS
Inter-Korean Military Talks End with Little Progress

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Military officials from the two Koreas met at the truce village
of Panmunjom on Oct. 2 for the first inter-Korean military dialogue in eight
months, but the talks ended shortly without any significant progress after the
North's delegates warned of "grave consequences" for Seoul's spreading of
propaganda leaflets.
"The North Korean side provided a detailed list of incidents in which (South
Korean) civic organizations spread leaflets, and demanded an apology and the
punishment of those responsible," Col. Lee Sang-cheol, Seoul's chief delegate to
the talks, told a press briefing.
North Korean delegates warned of grave consequences at the joint industrial
complex of the two Koreas in the North's border town of Kaesong should South
Korean organizations continue to spread what they called "propaganda leaflets,"
according to Lee.
Consequences could include the barring of South Koreans from the North through
the inter-Korean border and the eviction of all South Koreans from the Kaesong
complex as well as the South Korean-developed resort in the North's Mt. Kumgang,
Pyongyang's delegation was quoted as saying.
The North's threat to halt the Kaesong project comes after Seoul pulled out all
its officials from the Mt. Kumgang resort following the July killing of a South
Korean tourist there.
North Korea has cut off all dialogue with the South since Seoul's Lee Myung-bak
administration was inaugurated in February vowing to take a firmer stance against
the communist North than its liberal predecessors. The military meeting was the
first inter-Korean dialogue since President Lee took office. The last round of
military talks were held on Jan. 25.
Col. Lee, Seoul's chief delegate to the talks who heads the Defense Ministry's
North Korea policy bureau, said the meeting cannot be called a complete failure.
"Considering that no military talks had been held in the past eight months and
that today's meeting was the first of its kind under our new government, the
talks were more aimed at exchanging each other's view on issues that needed to be
urgently addressed rather than producing a solution to a certain problem," Lee
told the press briefing.
North Korea's chief delegate, Col. Pak Rim-su, earlier said the meeting had
solely focused on the issue of South Korea's spread of propaganda leaflets. "The
talks were held after a long hiatus, but the South's stance was not reflective of
a desire to solve problems," Pak told reporters shortly before crossing the
military demarcation line that divides the two Koreas.
The talks, held on the South Korean side of the joint security area, better known
as the truce village of Panmumjom, ended less than two hours after they got off
to a rough start. The talks were delayed by nearly an hour as the North Korean
delegation demanded the entire meeting be open to the media.
Seoul protested, saying no previous inter-Korean dialogue had been fully open to
the media and that the North was trying to turn the talks into a venue for its
propaganda.
While North Korea focused mainly on the issue of air-dropped leaflets, South
Korean delegates took the opportunity to raise many issues that needed to be
addressed at official talks between the two Koreas, Lee said.
Seoul demanded North Korea immediately halt its defamation of the South Korean
president, noting that its repeated verbal and written attacks against President
Lee since his inauguration seriously violated the countries' 2004 agreement,
under which the sides also agreed to stop propaganda broadcasts across the DMZ, a
buffer to the military demarcation line, according to the colonel.
The South Korean delegates also demanded that the North agree to launch a joint
investigation into the shooting of South Korean Park Wang-ja at Mt. Kumgang and
establish safety measures to prevent the recurrence of such a tragic accident, he
said.
At these demands, North Korean delegates reiterated their country's official
position and said they will review them once they return to Pyongyang, according
to Lee.
North Korea had refused the joint investigation, prompting Seoul to withdraw its
officials and suspend all tours to the mountain resort, jointly developed by
Hyundai Asan, an affiliate of Hyundai Group.

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Two Koreas Mark Anniversary of Oct. 4 Summit with Suspicion and Hostility

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea marked the first anniversary of the
landmark Oct. 4 summit between the leaders of the two Koreas last year in sharp
contrast with each other, with the Seoul government reluctant to implement the
summit accords and Pyongyang accusing the South of not implementing them.
North Korean media poured harsh criticism on the South's Lee Myung-bak
administration, saying it is driving inter-Korean relations to confrontation
while totally refusing to implement the June 15 joint declaration and the Oct. 4
declaration.
The North's committee for the implementation of the June 15 declaration said a
"fascist dictatorship" is reviving in the South, which it said is mercilessly
suppressing the unification movement of progressive and democratic forces in
South Korea.
At a civilian ceremony to mark the first anniversary on Oct. 1, former President
Roh Moo-hyun said the agreement that he signed in a summit with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il a year ago has been "abandoned" by Seoul. "It is an abandoned
declaration," Roh said in his speech to a civilian ceremony here to mark the
first anniversary of the summit.
On the day of the anniversary, a civilian group dedicated to the implementation
of the June 15 declaration celebrated the Oct. 4 summit declaration at Imjingak
in Paju, with some 600 people attending. Former unification minister Lee
Jae-joung urged the Seoul government to resume dialogue with Pyongyang to improve
inter-Korean relations.
North Korea, angered by Lee's tough stance against the North, has spurned the
president's repeated offers of dialogue and stepped up harsh criticism of his
administration.
Although Seoul says it has neither ignored the summit accords nor refused to
carry them out, it still appears unwilling to implement the agreements in the
face of public opinion that remains largely negative towards spending taxpayers'
money to aid the nuclear-armed neighbor.
Lee is reluctant to implement further inter-Korean programs under last year's
deal, which are estimated to cost Seoul at least 14.3 trillion won (US$11.9
billion).
In Pyongyang, a national meeting was held on Oct. 3 to mark the first anniversary
of the publication of the historic October 4 declaration, with high-ranking
officials and citizens attending.
Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly,
in his report said that the historic October 4 declaration constitutes action
guidelines and a program for implementing the June 15 joint declaration, which
comprehensively indicates ways to develop inter-Korean relations, achieve peace
on the Korean Peninsula, lead to co-prosperity of the nation and the country's
reunification.
He stressed that the Oct. 4 declaration reflects the desire and wishes of the
nation to expand and develop economic cooperation for the balanced development
of the Korean nation's economy and co-prosperity on the principle of common
interests and co-prosperity.
He also underlined the need for Koreans of all strata in the North and the South
and overseas to strongly reject the "servile sycophantic and treacherous acts of
the South Korean conservative ruling forces and their confrontational moves
against the nation and reunification and decisively frustrate all sorts of
interference and arbitrary practices of foreign forces."
The Oct. 4 summit agreement outlined plans to end military hostilities and build
mutual confidence between the two Koreas, as well as further developing
inter-Korean economic cooperation programs. The agreements call for the expansion
of the joint industrial complex at Kaesong, just north of the demilitarized zone
(DMZ) separating the two countries, as well as repair of the country's obsolete
roads and railways and the creation of a joint shipbuilding complex.
A series of high-level talks between the countries' prime ministers, defense
ministers and economic officials to discuss ways to carry out the Oct. 4
declaration followed the summit.
North-South relations dramatically improved after the historic first summit in
2000 between then President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Ties were further cemented following the Oct. 4 summit, but turned sour after the
inauguration of the conservative, pro-U.S. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
in late February.
As relations quickly chilled, however, Lee softened his stance, offering to
discuss humanitarian food aid to North Korea and paying lip service to the spirit
of the past two summit agreements.
Angered by Lee's initial hardline position, Pyongyang spurned Lee's repeated
offers of dialogue and stepped up its harsh criticism of him, accusing the
president at one point of being a "traitor."
Pyongyang has continued to insist however, that it will not return to the
dialogue table until Seoul pledges to carry out all previous agreements, and has
demanded that Seoul punish conservative civic groups for flying anti-North Korean
propaganda banners, officials said.

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Seoul's Liberal Party Seeks Stronger Inter-Korean Ties in Kaesong

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Legislators of South Korea's main opposition party called for
the resumption of stalled dialogue with Pyongyang and pledged to make efforts to
implement an inter-Korean agreement struck last year as they visited the North
Korean border town of Kaesong on Oct. 2.
About 50 legislators of the liberal Democratic Party made a one-day trip to the
Kaesong inter-Korean joint industrial complex to mark the first anniversary of
the Oct. 4 inter-Korean declaration made by South Korea's former President Roh
Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Relations between the divided countries, which technically remain at war, warmed
after their first-ever summit in 2000, leading to a historic agreement committed
to ending military hostilities across the border and revitalizing inter-Korean
economic cooperation.
Most of the agreements remain unfulfilled, however, as Seoul's conservative,
pro-Washington President Lee Myung-bak took office in late February pledging to
take a harder line on it's communist neighbour. North Korea has recently been
backtracking from a six-party aid-for-denuclearization deal reached last year.
"Our party will actively seek reconciliation talks with North Korean politicians
to play a role in thawing the frozen inter-Korean ties," said Chung Sye-kyun, who
led the visiting lawmakers in Kaesong, according to media pool reports. "The
party leadership, including myself, is willing to visit Pyongyang and meet its
officials."
Chung also called on the Lee government to make more effort in implementing the
Oct. 4 agreement. "The party will make the utmost effort in implementing the
historic agreement and achieving a peaceful Korean Peninsula," he said. "The Lee
administration must soften its hardline stance toward the North to ease the
ongoing tension."
At present, over 32,000 North Koreans work for 79 South Korean manufacturing
plants at the Kaesong complex, a legacy of the previous South Korean liberal
governments' engagement policy towards the North.
(END)