South Korea pressed North Korea to resume stalled international negotiations over its nuclear arms ambitions and return to its moratorium on missile tests Wednesday, but the North refused to acknowledge international concerns over its missile tests, only asking the South to join its missile defense system and provide food to the communist state, according to officials.
Delegates from the divided Koreas resumed the second day of Cabinet-level talks with a plenary meeting at the APEC Nurimaru House, the venue of last year's APEC summit in the southern South Korean city of Busan.
In a speech at the plenary meeting, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, Seoul's chief delegate to the ministerial talks, called on the North to immediately return to the nuclear talks and its moratorium on missile launches, according to Lee Kwan-se, an official from the ministry working as a spokesman for the South's delegation to the talks.
The nuclear disarmament talks, involving the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the two Koreas, have been stalled since a November round due to a boycott by the North.
Kwon Ho-ung, chief councilor of the North's Cabinet heading the country's five-member delegation, signaled tough negotiations lay ahead, repeating his country's earlier claim that the missile launches were part of its "routine military drills" and that its military deterrence is also protecting the South, according to Lee.
The North's chief delegate called for joint efforts "to remove elements that threaten" the security situation around the Korean Peninsula, but claimed "a vast majority of South Koreans and the country" are enjoying peace and security made available by his country's "Songun" (military-first) policy, the spokesman said.
"No one in the South thinks your country's Songun policy helps protect their country," the unification minister was quoted as telling Kwon.
"What really helps our security situation is (for North Korea) to not test-fire any missiles and stop developing nuclear weapons," Lee said, adding that "inter-Korean relations would drift as far apart as the North Korean missiles' range."
Pyongyang launched seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan last week, leading to joint efforts by Seoul's major allies to seek United Nations sanctions against the reclusive state.
The South Korean government also condemned the North's missile launches, a move declared a provocation by Washington and Tokyo, but it opposes the move by its allies to seek U.N. sanctions against the communist state.
"The government is making every diplomatic effort to resume the six-party nuclear talks at an early date while sternly dealing with the North's missile launches to prevent a further worsening of the situation," Seoul's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told a regular press briefing in Seoul.
He said the government supports the U.N. Security Council's efforts to prevent, or discourage, the firing of additional North Korean missiles, but said his country and the United States share the view that China, Pyongyang's closest ally, must first be given time to woo the North back to the negotiating table through diplomatic means.
Beijing proposed holding an unofficial round of the six-party nuclear talks in its eastern city of Shenyang, but Pyongyang has yet to make a positive response to the proposal.
Seoul and its allies reportedly wish to go ahead with the proposed meeting, even at the North's absence, to discuss ways to resume the stalled negotiations.
The North's chief delegate to the inter-Korean talks, the 19th of their kind, also renewed his country's request for half a million tons of rice in his keynote speech, according to the South Korean delegation's spokesman.
The spokesman said the sides did not have enough time to discuss each other's requests or positions in detail, but said South Korea was likely to maintain its suspension of assistance, including rice and fertilizer, "as the government has said."
After the communist state stirred up fears in the region by test-firing the missiles last week, Seoul said it would not make any additional commitment of economic or humanitarian assistance for the impoverished North until the missile crisis and other security issues on the Korean Peninsula are fully resolved.
Kwon also called on the South to halt any joint military exercises with outsides forces, according to Lee.
Pyongyang regularly criticizes Seoul's annual military drills with U.S. forces stationed in the country, claiming they are aimed at preemptively striking it.
The delegates from the Koreas were expected to hold unofficial and closed meetings throughout the day following a joint lunch hosted by the country's chief delegate, according to the spokesman.
The talks run through Friday when the North's delegates would return home via a direct western sea air route, which runs over the heavily-fortified border that has divided the Koreas since the end of 1950-53 Korean War.
Busan, July 12 (Yonhap News)
Koreas resume talks on N.K. missiles with no breakthrough in sight |
