China understands S. Korean position on N. Korea: Seoul minister

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister said Wednesday
that Beijing understands Seoul's position on North Korea, which Pyongyang blames
for fomenting confrontation.
Kim Ha-joong, however, did not clarify what specific messages he delivered to
Beijing officials during his four-day visit here.
"I actively conveyed our government's genuine intention on North Korean policy,"
Kim told Korean correspondents here. "Chinese leaders I met during this visit
said they understand it."
Seoul's chief policymaker on inter-Korean affairs, who returned home Wednesday,
is expected to brief President Lee Myung-bak soon.
Kim met with top officials well-versed on North Korean issues, including Dai
Bingguo, China's state councilor, Yang Jiechi, the foreign minister, and Wang
Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international liaison department.
He also exchanged views with Wu Dawei, Chinese vice foreign minister and chief
envoy on North Korea denuclearization talks.
The minister said he talked with Wang for nearly three hours on Tuesday to
"exchange views spontaneously." Asked what messages he conveyed to him about
North Korea, he declined to elaborate.
"Inter-Korean relations are now in a very difficult stage, but we have repeatedly
said we are willing to resume inter-Korean dialogue at any time," he said.
Pyongyang has recently been intensifying its anti-Seoul rhetoric. On Tuesday, the
North called the unification minister a "lunatic" who has ruined inter-Korean
relations with confrontational policies.
Kim rebutted, saying, "We can't just jump into large-scale aid projects that cost
tens of trillions of won without examining their validity," even if they are
Pyongyang's urgent demand. During their summit last year, Lee's liberal
predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, promised his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-il,
broad economic incentives such as energy and cash to build factories and roads if
the North faithfully denuclearizes.
Lee toughened up on the North's nuclear program and demanded improvement in human
rights conditions in the communist country. The Lee government has not given
humanitarian aid to the North, compared to 246.6 billion won (US$187.8 million)
worth of food and fertilizer delivered in 2007.
Relations further eroded when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North
Korean soldier in the North's Kumgang mountain resort in July.
On Dec. 1, the North evicted hundreds of South Koreans working in a joint
industrial complex in its border town of Kaesong. It also curtailed border
traffic and halted cargo train service.
The latest six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program ended without
progress earlier this month amid a dispute on verification of Pyongyang's past
nuclear activity.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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