hankyoreh

Feb. 19. (Photo by Ryu Woo-jong)

By Kim Kyu-won, Staff Writer

　North Korea refused a pair of overtures for dialogue from the South Korean government in recent weeks.

　According to an opinion piece in the Saturday edition of Minju Choson, the newspaper of the North Korean Cabinet, “It is petty trickery for the South Choson [Korean] authorities to go on and on about all these ’reunions‘ and ’interchange efforts‘ on one hand, and insist on adhering to the ’May 24 measures’.”

　The May 24 measures were drafted by the South Korean government in the wake of the Cheonan warship’s sinking. They discontinued all exchange and cooperation with North Korea with the exception of the Gaesong complex.

　“If the traitorous thugs [the South Korean government] truly want reunions of separated family members and relatives and cooperation on interchange, they should respond to the open list of questions announced by the Political Bureau of our Republic’s National Defense Commission,” the piece continued.

　Analysts are interpreting the piece as Pyongyang‘s official rejection of two recent proposals for dialogue from Seoul. The South Korean government proposed discussions toward family reunions at Kaesong and Munsan in the name of the president of the Republic of Korea National Red Cross on Feb. 14, and efforts to prevent blight in a complex of Goguryeo tombs in the name of the Korea Forest Service chief on Feb. 7.

　On Feb. 2, the NDC’s Political Bureau released a list of nine open questions to the South Korean government, demanding an apology for what it called disrespectful conduct after the death of Kim Jong-il and implementation of the terms in the June 15 and October 4 inter-Korean summit declarations.

　The Unification Ministry said it would “not be responding to each and every one” of the questions.

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