hankyoreh

normalizing operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and restarting tourist trips to Mt. Keumgang. 　

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer

North Korea made a surprise June 6 proposal for talks between government authorities, and South Korea responded affirmatively by proposing a minister-level meeting.

With dialogue back on track between the two sides, observers are expecting efforts to resume North Korea-US dialogue and the six-party talks on the nuclear issue to also gain traction. The question now is whether this marks a first step in easing the old hostility and frictions between the two sides through dialogue and reconciliation.

The offer, which came in a special statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), appears to be a response to the “trust-building process” that forms a central pledge of President Park Geun-hye’s administration. Korean People’s Army vice marshal Choe Ryong-hae visited China on May 22 to 24. Speaking as a special envoy for leader Kim Jong-un, Choe said North Korea intended to resolve its issues through dialogue and negotiations, including the six-party talks.

But comments that followed suggested that Pyongyang would reject any dialogue between authorities for the time being. In particular, it leveled its first direct criticisms at President Park in a May 25 statement by a National Defense Commission politburo spokesperson, blasting her as a “puppet president” and saying she had revealed her “true atrocious hostility.” For this reason, observers are saying North Korea’s offer to return to cooperative relations, including normalization of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Keumgang tourism, as well as reunions of separated families, represents an earlier-than-anticipated shift in policy.

The most notable aspect is the timing. The offer came on the eve of a US-China summit meeting scheduled for June 7 and 8 in California. The aim appears to have been to get inter-Korean dialogue back on track in the hopes of using it as a stepping stone toward eventual dialogue with Washington.

“When Choe Ryong-hae told [Chinese President] Xi Jinping he was hoping for ‘talks in various formats, including the six-party talks,’ he was thinking about dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington,” said former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun.

“If dialogue does take place between North and South, it could set the stage for Xi to work during his talks with [US President] Barack Obama to bring Washington into dialogue with Pyongyang,” he explained.

In a recent contribution to a South Korean daily, Song Ronghua, secretary-general of China’s Public Diplomacy Council and a China Foreign Affairs University visiting professor, predicted that the two leaders would “send a strong message on Korean Peninsula issues” at the talks.

This bolsters a claim made on May 25 by the Choson Sinbo, the newspaper of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, which said that China was opening up some room for the six-party talks chair state to maneuver diplomatically by practicing a more forward-thinking approach to dialogue in various forms.

The offer also comes in the wake of a number of economic management improvements implemented in North Korea to bolster the weak economy, including a limited recent expansion of autonomy at collective farms and factories. Such measures are unlikely to pay off substantially without support from South Korea, China, and other countries. This suggests that the offer also had the aim of making the international environment more favorable for the economic steps.

The CPRF spokesperson’s statement appeared to regard inter-Korean dialogue as more than just a stepping-stone to talks with Washington. In addition to talks between authorities toward normalizing operations at the Kaesong Complex and Mt. Keumgang for the 13th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration of 2000, it also proposed commemorative events with the South Korean government and civic groups. In short, it advocated restoring relations between the two sides - after five years of deterioration and disruptions under Park’s predecessor Lee Myung-bak - in the spirit of the 2000 declarations.

This suggests a favorable view from Pyongyang toward the Park administration, which has respected basic agreements and opened the door for dialogue even as it has refused to bow to continued military provocations and threats from North Korea.

The statement included a number of suggestions that signal Pyongyang’s sincerity about its offer, including a joint event to commemorate the North-South Joint Declaration of July 4, 1972 - an agreement reached by Park’s father, former President Park Chung-hee - and a proposal for reunions of separated families without demanding food aid.

Perhaps most importantly, it showed Pyongyang backing off from its previous demands for resuming dialogue between authorities since communication lines were unilaterally cut off last March, including a halt to all “hostile activity” such as military exercises with the US, and an apology for “insulting the supreme dignity” of the country, namely the family of Kim Jong-un.

This represents an admission - exceedingly rare in inter-Korean relations - that Seoul is justified in viewing the halt of the Kaesong Complex as an improper action by Pyongyang.

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