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Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon shakes hands with Ri Son-gwon

The South Korean government proposed holding working-level talks with North Korea on Jan. 15 to discuss the issue of the North’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. This increases the likelihood that inter-Korean military talks will not be held until after Jan. 20.

“This afternoon, we used the liaison channel at Panmunjeom to transmit a message from Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, head of the South Korean delegation to the high-level inter-Korean talks, to Ri Son-gwon, head of the North Korean delegation to the talks. In the message, we suggested holding working-level talks about North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics at the House of Peace on the South Korean side of Panmunjeom on Jan. 15 at 10 am,” the Unification Ministry said on Jan. 12.

In its message, the Ministry also announced its list of three delegates. Vice Minister of Unification Chun Hae-sung was reportedly chosen to be chief negotiator, with Ahn Moon-hyun, deputy director-general of the Office of the Prime Minister, and Kim Ki-hong, vice president of games planning for the Pyeongchang Olympics organizing committee, attending him at the negotiations. The Ministry also said it had used the Panmunjeom liaison channel to send the North documents summarizing the South Korean position on North Korean participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics and about cultural events.

“The International Olympic Committee and national olympic committee figures from North and South Korea are supposed to meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Jan. 20. I’m told that working-level talks about the Olympics will be held prior to that,” said Lee Yu-jin, the Unification Ministry’s deputy spokesperson, during an earlier press briefing. During the working-level inter-Korean talks, the discussion is expected to focus on issues including the number of North Korea’s senior officials, cheerleaders and artists who will visit South Korea, the route they will take, their lodgings, cost-sharing arrangements, joint cheering arrangements and the joint entrance into the stadium during the opening ceremony.

Under the lead of Second Vice Minister Roh Tae-kang, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been busily preparing for working-level inter-Korean talks in consultation with the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee and the organizing committee for the Pyeongchang Olympics. “We are thinking carefully about ways to ensure that South Korean athletes will not be disadvantaged if North and South Korea field a unified team,” said a member of the athletic establishment.

Presuming that the working-level inter-Korean talks are held next week, the military talks will probably not be held until the end of the month. “Since the primary focus of the military talks is ensuring the success of the Pyeongchang Olympics, questions such as how many North Koreans athletes there will be, when they will come and where they will go have to be answered before military authorities can deliberate on how to provide military support,” a senior Defense Ministry official told reporters.

These questions are supposed to be discussed during the working-level inter-Korean talks next week and confirmed during the three-party talks between North and South Korea and the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Jan. 20. Logically speaking, therefore, the inter-Korean military talks are expected to be held after Jan. 20.

In related news, military authorities are considering the option of reinstalling the military communication lines on the West Sea that were reactivated on Jan. 10. The lines consist of three fiber optic cables and three copper cables, but only one of the copper cables is working. “The other cables appear to be nonfunctional because of a problem on the line. We’ve concluded that we’ll have to lay new communication lines. We’re planning to discuss this with the North Koreans as well,” said a senior military official.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer, Lee Chan-young and Kim Chang-keum, staff reporters

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