Pres. Park criticizes N. Korea for inviting citizens, but not agreeing to government talks

Posted on : 2013-06-01 15:50 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
On upcoming visit to China, Park says she will “speak frankly” about the North Korea issue
 May 31. (Blue House photo pool)
May 31. (Blue House photo pool)

By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent

President Park Geun-hye declared on May 31 that dialogue between governments was "the way to build trust between North and South [Korea] and develop a normal relationship" on issues such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

Her remarks were interpreted as a direct signal that the administration is insisting on any dialogue between the two sides taking place between government authorities. They came after North Korea recently announced it would allow Kaesong Complex businessmen to visit the complex and proposed holding civilian events to celebrate the June 15 Declaration of 2000.

Park's statement came at a luncheon with reporters at the Blue House’s Nokjiwon Garden to commemorate her upcoming 100th day in office.

"As long as [North Korea] keeps saying, 'Hurry up and send over private groups' or 'Let them hold June 15 memorial events,' things are just going to get more and more tangled up, and there will be no way out of the vicious circle," she said.

Stressing the importance of having the two governments work out a solution, Park also said, "There will be no choice but for the government to take action if some [security] issue arises."

She also voiced her displeasure with Pyongyang's approach on the Kaesong issue.

"If they had any respect for the South Korean citizens there, I don't think they could just kick them out overnight," she said. "And if they really did respect those tenant businesses, they couldn't have threatened not to let [employees] go if they didn't pay all their bills."

"At this point, how can anyone guarantee the safety [of complex employees] when North Korea refuses to deal with the [South Korean] government, but keeps telling private citizens to come over?" she added, referring to Pyongyang's rejection of dialogue offers from Seoul.

Relations with North Korea were the main topic on the agenda for Park's first-ever talk with reporters who cover the Blue House. Indeed, most of her opening remarks were focused on explaining the situation with inter-Korean issues.

Park delivered sharp-edged criticisms of Pyongyang's methods in responding to government dialogue overtures with its own offers of civilian interaction. She also repeatedly stressed that dialogue between government authorities was an essential prerequisite to ensure the safety of South Korean citizens.

Park spoke at length about North Korea preventing seven South Koreans from leaving the complex over unpaid wages and other outstanding expenses.

"Up until the end, I was terribly worried about the safety of those seven South Koreans - even more so because of my sense of responsibility," she said. "When [the North Koreans] said they wouldn't let them go until we paid the balance, I thought, 'They're being held hostage.' It was an unimaginable moment of tension, and we must not allow such things to happen again."

Stressing the importance of dialogue between government authorities, she expressed displeasure with Pyongyang's approach to date.

"We [the administration] kept saying we should continue having dialogue, that we should talk and try to work out the Kaesong issue, and North Korea kept rejecting that, but then turned around and told our civilians, 'We'll guarantee your safety. Come and collect everything,'" she said. "Does that make any sense at all?"

"With tourism at Mt. Keumgang, our citizens trusted North Korea, and there ended up being a death," she added, referring to a South Korean tourist who was shot by a North Korean soldier while visiting the mountain in 2011. "The people at our companies aren't criminals, and we can't allow this vicious circle to go on, where the government steps in to pay the bills whenever something happens and we're constantly worried about whether our citizens are going to get hurt."

Park shied away from replying directly to a question on whether she planned to discuss the recent repatriation of nine North Korean defectors from Laos at a late June summit meeting with China.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping and I go a long way back, and I plan to speak frankly with him," she answered. "We're going to talk about things like China's major role in North Korea issues."

She also said she was considering giving a speech in Chinese during her visit "if many people would like that."

Describing her feelings about the upcoming 100-day anniversary of her taking office, which comes on June 4, Park said it "hasn't really hit me."

"Maybe it's because we got off to such a late start, but it's hard to believe 100 days have gone by," she said. "With making a basic framework for the next five years and the issues with North Korea, I thought, 'There are so many things I would do if God gave me 48 hours in a day.'"

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