North and South Korea are planning to hold their firstinter-governmental talks since the South's conservative presidentassumed office last year. The rare meeting comes as North Koreasharpens its menacing rhetoric and detains a South Korean businessman.
North Koreanofficials have mostly refused to sit across a table from what they callSouth Korean "traitors" for more than a year. Now, says South KoreanUnification Ministry Spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo, the South has acceptedan offer from Pyongyang to talk.
Shesays inter-Korean talks will take place on April 21. North Korea hassuggested the talks to discuss the joint North-South industrial complexin the North Korean city of Kaesong. She says the government will doeverything it can to ensure staff safety at Kaesong.
North Koreahas detained for three weeks a South Korean executive who helps tomanage the Kaesong factory park, saying he made disrespectful commentsabout the North's government. It is the latest in a series of problemsfacing the Kaesong zone, which was once viewed as the centerpiece of aten-year South Korean experiment in engaging the North with heavygenerosity and minimal criticism.
Conservative South KoreanPresident Lee Myung-bak altered that experiment when he was inauguratedlast year. He has said transfers of South Korean public money must becontingent on progress on several issues, chief among them, diplomacyto get rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons.
The nuclear processtook a step backward last week, as North Korea ejected internationalnuclear inspectors, announced its withdrawal from multinational talks,and said it would resume production of nuclear materials. The stepswere an angry response to a United Nations denouncement of a long-rangerocket launch by the North earlier this month.
North Koreaexperts here in Seoul believe the North will use this week's meeting towarn the South not to join a U.S. - led anti-proliferation campaign. South Korea has already backed off of two expected announcements thisweek that it would participate in the Proliferation SecurityInitiative, or PSI.
Pyongyang repeated a threat Saturday that it would view the South's participation in PSI as a "declaration of war."
ANorth Korean news presenter reads a government statement saying "theLee group of traitors should never forget that Seoul is just 50 km awayfrom the Military Demarcation Line" separating the two Koreas.
Theannouncement is seen as an implicit reference to North Korea's massivebuildup of artillery and rockets along the border. Military officialssay even though the South Korean and U.S. militaries are superior tothat of the North, Pyongyang could potentially use those weapons tokill hundreds of thousands of people in and around Seoul in a matter ofhours. For that reason, most South Korean policymakers view militaryconflict with the North as unthinkable.