hankyoreh

to support Kim Jong-un’s New Year address

A senior official with the Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification (PPCU) hinted on Jan. 7 that the South Korean government is taking a step-by-step approach on the channels for a potential inter-Korean summit.

“Shouldn’t [North and South] at least find out each other’s positions beforehand with ministerial talks?” the official said.

The remarks come after comments the previous day from Blue House Senior Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security Ju Chul-ki on Seoul’s method of approaching inter-Korean dialogue. “While it would be nice to make one big step, there are also concerns about failure and unpleasant results,” Ju said at the time. “Our [the South Korean government’s] idea is to build a foundation of small things that we can set it place firmly.”

The senior PPCU official also told reporters on Jan. 7 that it was “very undesirable” to talk about an inter-Korean summit at the moment.

“We believe that dialogue [between North and South] needs to be initiated, and that there needs to be some sounding out of opinions after that dialogue before a summit,” the official said.

The message could suggest that a summit between leaders could only be pursued after significant progress has been made in terms of resuming talks between governments and holding ministerial or other high-level dialogue.

The official was also skeptical about the prospects of a “top-down” approach in which a summit takes place first, with results that serve as a foundation for historic improvements in inter-Korean relations in general.

“The top-down way just isn’t desirable,” the official said. “We haven’t had dialogue in a long time, and a new regime has come into power in North Korea. We need to spend more time finding out what the other side wants.”

Commenting on the need for back-channel discussions to discuss a summit, the official said, “There are a lot of things needed for a summit that are tough to talk about in a formal setting. Indirect dialogue would be one way of finding out each other’s intentions.”

The official also presented Seoul’s take on Pyongyang‘s commitment to dialogue.

“We think it’s a positive sign that North Korea mentioned talks at the ‘highest level’ in its New Year’s address,” the official said.

“[North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un appears to be thinking of resuming inter-Korean relations,” the official added.

The official went on to say that one of the reason the PPCU proposed dialogue on Dec. 29 was “the need to take advantage of the Lunar New Year holiday to hold reunions for members of divided families.”

“If it takes North Korea a long time to respond, that leads us to question their sincerity on the divided family issue,” the official continued. “Hopefully, they will respond as quickly as possible.”

By Son Won-je, staff reporter

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