hankyoreh

Members of the South Korean Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Statement hold a demonstration at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul

North Korea has responded to a private South Korean organization’s request for contact for the first time since South Korea’s new administration took power. This is improving the prospects for North and South Koreans overseas holding a joint event on June 15, an annual event that has been suspended since 2008.

“The North Korean committee suggested that the joint event commemorating the 17th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Statement be held in Pyongyang,” the South Korean Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Statement (under permanent president Lee Chang-bok) said in a statement released on the afternoon of June 5. This is the first time that North and South Korea have exchanged communications since the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration, albeit in the private sector. On May 28, South Korea’s Unification Ministry approved the committee’s request to make contact with the North with the aim of holding the June 15 joint event.

“After our application was approved, we made a proposal to North Korea to hold the joint event in the Kaesong area for the convenience of the South Korean delegation, but the North Koreans indicated that this was impossible because of many unresolved problems related to transportation and customs on the Gyeongui Line,” said a source on the South Korean committee. “Since the event is being held in North Korea, we decided to respect North Korea’s opinion about the place and to accept their proposal of holding it in Pyongyang.” North Korea’s response reportedly also included concerns about the fact that the South Korean government is participating in international sanctions against the North.

With just 10 days left before the event, the South Korean committee is expected to ask Seoul for permission to visit the North this week, after additional discussion of the list of delegates to the North and about the details of the event’s agenda. While an application for making contact with North Korea only requires information about the North Koreans to be contacted and the purpose of contacting them, an application for visiting North Korea requires various documents, including a letter of invitation from the North and a memorandum guaranteeing the safety of the visitors, which can take some time.

“We’re planning for the delegation to North Korea to include around 100 people, including the leaders of civic and social organizations, the seven major religious groups, the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center and the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. The delegation will be composed of trustworthy people that won’t worry the government,” said Lee Chang-bok, permanent president of this organization, in an interview with the Hankyoreh on June 2.

“We’re going to be flexible about inter-Korean exchange as long as it doesn’t damage the framework of the international community’s sanctions against North Korea,” said an official from the Unification Ministry.

By Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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