Foreign minister cites need for patience with North Korea

By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will closely watch how the situation
unfolds following North Korea's retaliatory steps against Seoul, the foreign
minister said Wednesday.
"(The measure) is related to North Korea's discontent and displeasure regarding
South Korea's nuclear policy toward it, and also the dropping of leaflets by
civic groups criticizing (North Korea leader) Kim Jong-il," Yu Myung-hwan said at
a luncheon speech arranged by members of the U.S. business community here.
"All these are related, but we are going to watch patiently. We don't want to
provoke North Korea," Yu said.
Pyongyang put its threats into action late last month, suspending rail services
between the two Koreas and banning South Korean tourists from visiting the
ancient city of Kaesong just north of the inter-Korean border as of Dec. 1. The
measures are widely seen as an expression of the North's anger over Seoul's
conservative Lee Myung-bak government, which has taken a hardline stance toward
Pyongyang, Yu said.
Kaesong is also the location of an inter-Korean joint industrial complex, a
symbol of reconciliation and economic cooperation fostered during the two
previous South Korean governments. Over 80 South Korean companies currently run
assembly lines at the complex, employing some 35,000 North Koreans.
Pyongyang has also criticized conservative civic groups in the South for sending
tens of thousands of propaganda leaflets critical of Kim Jong-il's brutal rule
into North Korea via balloons.
North Korea has cut off all official dialogue with the Lee administration, which
took a tougher stance toward North Korea than its two liberal predecessors, who
pursued policies of engagement with the communist regime.
brk@yna.co.kr
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