hankyoreh

June 13

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

As the battle of nerves between North and South Korea continues over the reunions of families divided by the Korean War and the resumption of tourism to Mt. Keumgang, there is unlikely to be much improvement in inter-Korean relations for the time being.

On Jan. 10, the government in Seoul repeated its proposal to North Korea for divided family reunions, adding that it would be possible to discuss a specific offer about tourism to Mt. Keumgang if the North should make an official offer. But in regard to North Korea’s calls for the resumption of tourism to Mt. Kumgang, the South Korean government maintained its standard position that it will deal with tourism separately from the issue of the divided families.

“If North Korea truly wants to improve inter-Korean relations, we ask it once more not to merely talk about carrying out humanitarian projects, but rather to adopt a sincere attitude about our proposal for resuming the divided family reunions,” said Ministry of Unification spokesperson Kim Ui-do spokesperson in the regular press briefing on Jan. 10. “The reunions of the divided families are the first step toward improving inter-Korean relations,” Kim said.

Kim also said that if officials from North and South deliberated on the schedule and if the North made a specific proposal for tours to Mt. Keumgang, that could be discussed. At the same time, Kim noted that “the two issues are separate from each other, and we have not changed our attitude of dealing with them as such.”

The previous day, on Jan. 9, North Korea rejected President Park Geun-hye’s proposal for holding a working-level meeting to prepare for reunions of the divided families around the Lunar New Year, while implicitly calling for the resumption of tourism to Mt. Keumgang. Given this, North Korea is not expected to show any particular change in its position right away. Neither side is yielding on issues in which their own interests conflict. In Sept. 2013, after a disagreement about the timing of the talks about tours to Mt. Keumgang, North Korea ended up delaying the divided family reunions indefinitely only four days before they were scheduled to occur.

In addition, the South Korean government is facing criticism that it has been further complicating inter-Korean relations recently by sending confusing messages to the North. At present, the North is receiving different messages from various parts of the government: President Park, the Unification Ministry, the National Intelligence Service, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During her New Year press conference on Jan. 6, President Park proposed holding reunions for divided families; only one day later, a government official made comments to reports after a meeting of South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and US Secretary of State John Kerry indicating that the two countries wanted to lead North Korea to change.

Also, three days before the President’s offer, and after consulting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence Service, the Unification Ministry released an official statement of position saying that it doubted the sincerity of North Korea’s call for improving inter-Korean relations.

“If President Park really wants reunions of the divided families, she needs to make sure the government is sending a consistent message to the North,” said Jeong Uk-sik, director of the Peace Network.

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