hankyoreh

It is encouraging that the South Korean government is showing signs of attempting to repair relations with North Korea. However, the potential for progress is limited by the government’s current attitude. North Korea also needs to change its behavior if it genuinely wants to improve inter-Korean relations.

The South Korean government’s proposal for high-level talks with North Korea on Aug. 11 was unexpected and contained little information. According to the government announcement, the proposal expressed little more than the hope that the two sides could discuss various topics of mutual interest, including the idea of holding reunions for divided families around Chuseok (Sept. 8), the Korean harvest festival.

As for the question of whether negotiators would seriously discuss the idea of relaxing or lifting the May 24 measures and resuming tourism to Mt. Keumgang as North Korea wants, the South Korean government only said that it would listen carefully to whatever North Korea has to say on the issue.

There are clear signs that the proposal was decided hastily in advance of Pope Francis‘s Aug. 14 to 18 visit to South Korea, the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian US-ROK combined military exercises that are beginning on Aug. 18, and the Incheon Asian Games, which are scheduled for September. The date proposed by the South Korean government, Aug. 19, even overlaps with the date of the Ulchi exercises, which North Korea prefers to avoid. This approach is little different from the first round of high-level talks in February, which did not bring about an improvement in inter-Korean relations.

Exchange and cooperation are fundamental components of improving inter-Korean relations. They are necessary to build trust, and to write a common narrative. Relaxing or lifting the May 24 measures and resuming tourism to Mt. Keumgang are two important ways to do this. We cannot avoid these issues.

In order to ensure that the high-level talks are not a throwaway event (presuming that they are even held), President Park Geun-hye needs to use her congratulatory address for Liberation Day on Aug. 15 to show that her attitude on these issues has changed. In addition to this, she needs to make clear that she intends to honor and abide by past inter-Korean agreements, including the Oct. 4 summit declaration of 2007 and the June 15 joint declaration of 2000.

North Korea also needs to stop trying to shift the responsibility for the deadlock in inter-Korean relations to South Korea. North Korea’s regular firing of missiles and rockets and its harsh invectives against the South are only making it harder to find a solution to these problems. The North needs to think seriously about how it can address South Korea‘s concerns about the question of relaxing or lifting the May 24 measures and resuming tours to Mt. Keumgang.

It is futile to insist on the trust-building process for the Korean peninsula and the Dresden declaration before repairing relations with North Korea. Both North and South Korea must work together before progress can be made in inter-Korean relations, but what is even more important right now is for the government to become more proactive.

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