hankyoreh

The frustrating stalemate continues after a sixth round of working-level inter-Korean talks toward normalization of the Kaesong Complex ended on July 25 without negotiating the date for the next talks. As of August 2, Pyongyang had made no response in the five days since Seoul gave its “final offer” of talks on July 29. Concerns that the standoff between governments might lead to a permanent shutdown at the complex, once a living symbol of inter-Korean cooperation and reconciliation, are increasingly being borne out.

Unless Pyongyang has really decided that it is going to let the complex die, it needs to accept the South Korean offer and come out for renewed working-level talks. It should not simply reject the proposal out of hand, whatever its rationale. If it has some statement to make, or if some changes need to be made, then the right thing to do is meet and say so.

It’s also frustrating to see how Seoul is behaving. In making this “final offer” for talks, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae was so rigid that it was tough to tell whether he was suggesting discussions or issuing an ultimatum. In asking Pyongyang for a clear answer on what it would to do to avoid future shutdowns, he declared that the South would be making a “major decision” if it failed to deliver. Any fool can see what that decision would be - a complete shutdown of the complex. Indeed, it looked like he wasn’t proposing talks, but building a case for abandoning the complex forever.

To see how rigidly Seoul has approached things through the last round of talks, all it takes is to ask the heads of Kaesong Complex tenant companies. In a July 20 statement, they said they were “taking a forward-thinking position on North Korea’s proposal at the sixth round of talks.” They also said they thought the North Korean offer included most of the things demanded by Seoul, including its calls for “internationalization” and guarantees on communications, transit, and customs. From their perspective, it was Seoul’s rigid attitude that led to the talks breaking down. And, indeed, the South Korean government has apparently failed to produce any revised plan at all since the third round of talks, where it switched out its delegation head. This stands in contrast with North Korea, which continued to offer revised plans all the way through the sixth round.

What Seoul is asking for, at root, appears to be a North Korean acknowledgment of responsibility and apology for the complex’s shutdown. With this kind of all-or-nothing attitude, it’s difficult to imagine anything coming from talks even if they resume. The two sides appear to have fundamentally different views on the matter of responsibility, and in some sense it’s impossible to pin all of it on any one of them.

The complex is symbolic of a win-win solution for both sides, and if they hope to save it, they each need to take a step back. They both agree, for example, that it should get up and running again, so they should do that first and leave the things they disagree on for future discussions. To let the complex die over the question of responsibility is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]