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South Korea's Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok (right) shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Gwon Ho-ung at the South-North ministerial meeting held in Busan on July 12.
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Comments made at inter-Korean ministerial meeting
On the second day of the 19th South-North ministerial meeting being held in Busan, the South Korean delegation lodged a protest on behalf of its government and the international community against the North’s missile launches. In addition, the delegates from Seoul urged their Northern counterparts to return to the six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program as soon as possible and solve the problem through dialogue. Following the second day’s nearly two-hour meeting, Lee Kwan-se, spokesperson for the South Korean delegation to the inter-Korean talks, made the remarks at a press conference. South Korea’s chief delegate and Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok delivered the keynote address at the inter-Korean talks. In his speech, he broached the topic of the missile tests, saying "the fact that North Korea fired four Scud missiles whose firing range covers South Korea casts a shadow over the spirit of ’South-North cooperation’ and we cannot understand it. If the efforts to resume the six-nation talks do not succeed, the international community will take tougher measures, which will affect South-North relations, as well." The unification minister urged the North "to judge coolly what to do and what not to do for the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula."In response to Minister Lee’s keynote speech, reported here by spokesman Lee Kwan-se, the North told the South to "understand our position as we announced it at a press conference held by the Foreign Ministry on July 6," according to Lee. On July 6, the day after the missile tests, the North called the missile test-firing a "success," and said it was an ordinary military exercise to strengthen the North’s powers of self defense, its right as a soverign state. At its keynote address to the North-South talks in Busan, the North said that the two Koreas "should not be influenced by changes in political situations." The North suggested the two Koreas see more cooperation in tourism, and told the South it should stop joint military exercises with foreign forces. The North requested the South provide it with 500,000 tons of rice and raw materials for light industries. The North also said that the next separated-family reunion will be held during the Chuseok holidays in early October. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon, speaking from Seoul at a press conference, urged the North to hold a moratorium on its missile launches, to come back to the six-party talks as soon as possible, and to discuss ways to follow through with the September 19 Joint Statement. The joint statement was signed at the fourth round of six-party talks in 2005, and offers a peaceful means to wean North Korea off of its nuclear weapons program. "To hold this South-North ministerial meeting is desirable for maintaining the dialogue channel at present," Minister Ban said.
