hankyoreh

head delegate to the Feb. 12 inter-Korean meetings

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

The first high-level inter-Korean meeting in seven years took place on Feb. 12 at Panmunjeom. The South Korea Ministry of Unification reported a “sincere” atmosphere, with both sides explaining their own focuses and hearing out the other side’s.

But the meeting ended without any concrete agreement after North Korea repeatedly demanded postponement of the South Korea-US joint military exercises until after reunions of divided families scheduled for Feb. 20 to 25. The exercises are currently set to begin on Feb. 24.

With a week left until the reunions, there is a possibility that they could end up being canceled again.

In “explanatory materials” released after the meeting ended late on Feb. 12, the Ministry of Unification said, “The North linked the divided family reunion issue to the South Korea-US military exercises and repeatedly asked that the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises scheduled to start on Feb. 24 be postponed until after the event.”

The South Korean delegation responded by calling the linking of the reunions and the exercises “unacceptable” and a “violation of the principle of not linking purely humanitarian issues to military ones,” the ministry reported.

As a result, the meeting ended without any concrete agreements. The two sides did make plans for further discussions down the road, but no specific date was set.

The meeting, which took place at the Peace House on the South Korean side of Panmunjeom, started at 10 am and continued for about 14 hours until 12:10 am on Feb. 13. The North Korean delegation left the South side of Panmunjeom without holding a closing plenary meeting.

The five-person South Korean delegation was headed by Blue House national security bureau first deputy director Kim Kyu-hyun, while the North Korean delegation, also five members, was led by Workers’ Party of Korea Unified Front Department deputy director Won Dong-yon. The delegations held two general meetings at 10:05 am and 2:05 pm, and the head delegates met separately at 7:15 pm and 9:20 pm.

The Blue House agreed to North Korea’s request for a closed-door meeting. No reporters were present, and the content and details of the meeting were not disclosed.

The meeting, which was seen by many as a “proxy negotiation” between President Park Geun-hye and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, followed an open agenda format where both sides brought up issues of concern, rather than setting a particular agenda beforehand, in order to bridge their differences.

Because the agenda was not coordinated in advance, many had seen a concrete agreement as unlikely. The meeting unexpectedly went on until late at night, suggesting that a breakthrough could be made, but ultimately no agreement was reached.

The South Korean delegation reportedly put top priority on ensuring that next week’s family reunions come off smoothly and proposed using the event’s success to build trust. This was in response to North Korea repeatedly raising alarm about the military exercises beginning before the reunions are scheduled to finish.

The South Korean delegation also reportedly made efforts to explain its plans for a World Peace Park in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), one of the Park administration’s major areas of focus. Indeed, the Park project has been designated as a key Unification Ministry effort for this year, with a budget of 30 billion won (US$28.2 million) set aside for it.

South Korea’s representatives were also reported to have explained the Park administration’s North Korean policy approach - the so-called “Korean Peninsula trust-building process - and characterized a solution to the nuclear issue as the paramount need in improving inter-Korean relations.

Meanwhile the North Korean side reportedly continued to call for a halt to the military exercises, which are scheduled to start on Feb. 24. South Korea responded by reaffirming that the exercises were "defensive" in nature and noting that they have been scaled back from last year, with no US strategic bombers participating.

The North Korean representatives were also reported to have made active efforts to explain the so-called "important proposal" issued by Pyongyang last month and to encourage Seoul to agree to its terms. The proposal called for a halt to "slander" and "hostile military activities" on both sides, terms that North Korea also emphasized numerous times through press conferences by diplomat missions at the UN and in Great Britain and China.

North Korea has been consistently calling for a halt to the exercises through various channels, but this would be the first time it mentioned a particular date when demanding a postponement. Some observers expressed concerns about the overlap with the exercises when North and South Korea initially agreed on Feb. 5 to hold the family reunions on Feb. 20 to 25. Seoul originally asked for the dates of Feb. 17 and 22, which would not have overlapped with the exercises, before finally agreeing to the current dates, which were proposed by North Korea. Now, with the exercises and events coinciding for two days, the possibility for conflict remains.

The likelihood of a cancellation does not appear strong at the moment, with North Korea agreeing to South Korea’s basic idea of using the reunions to build trust. And with Pyongyang standing to deal a severe blow to inter-Korean relations if it does cancel the event - which it already did once before ahead of last year’s Chuseok holiday - it is likely to go ahead as scheduled, using the event for maximum propaganda effect.

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