hankyoreh

May 10.

Amid efforts to fine-tune the schedule and agenda for the follow-up to the April 21 Kaesong meeting between South Korea and North Korea, North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) declared Saturday, “There is simply no need to even consider holding talks between the North and the South while South Korea is publicly smearing the name of our republic and bluntly denying the dignity of the Republic.”

In a spokesperson’s talk on Saturday, the CPRF cited a statement by Ambassador Jhe Seong-ho, South Korea’s ambassador at large for human rights, about constructing settlement villages for North Korean refugees in regions on the border with North Korea, and discussions by Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Bureau director-general Huh Chul about the status of North Korean refugees and North Korean humans rights issues during a visit to the U.S. as “anti-Republic human rights agitation.” The CPRK described these as “a full-on denial of and challenge to North Korea’s dignity and system.”

Some analysts interpret the timing of this statement issued by the CPRK, North Korea’s representative body responsible for all maneuvers pertaining to South Korea, as a rejection of inter-Korean dialogue. They are concerned about how this may affect the second Kaesong meeting that is expected to take place as early as this week.

“The main content of the CPRK spokesperson’s talk was a reaction to discussions of North Korean human rights issues in general. It would be difficult to draw the conclusion that it has been made as a direct response to indicate North Korea’s approach to the Kaesong meeting that the two Koreas are currently discussing,” a government official said Sunday. The official’s comments indicated the expectation that since Pyongyang was the first to propose a meeting on Kaesong, it is unlikely the meeting itself will fail to materialize.

Many analysts, however, are predicting that discussions will not proceed smoothly even if the meeting is carried out. The CPRK indicated the unlikelihood that North Korea will readily accede to discussing the issue of detained Hyundai Asan employee Mr. Yu, an issue South Korea regards as important. The CPRK spokesperson said that South Korea “committed the disgraceful act of requesting cooperation on the ‘Hyundai Asan employee detention issue’ from their masters (the United States).”

Experts are expecting that it will be difficult to find a point of connection if North Korea comes out wishing to deal only with operational issues related to the Kaesong Industrial Complex, such as wages and land usage fees, while South Korea attempts to deal with pending issues such as Mr. Yu’s detention.

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