North points finger at South for cancelled rail test

Lee Jong-seok, south Korea's Unificatiojn Minister, right, and north Korea's chief delegate Kwon Ho-woong,left, walks into the negotiation room to hold South-North ministrial-level talks in Pyongyang, Apr. 24,2006. Pyongyang/Photo Press Corps

Seoul remains optimistic planned inter-Korean economic talks will not suffer same fate

North Korea's top delegate to inter-Korean ministerial talks blamed the South Korean government for the North¡?s last-minute cancellation of the test runs of cross-border railways earlier this week.

"South Korea is solely responsible for the cancellation," Kwon Ho-ung, a senior councilor of the North's cabinet and chief delegate to the inter-Korean ministerial talks, said in a telegram, which was quoted by the North's Pyongyang Broadcasting.

"The cancellation is blamed on the South's military, which has turned a blind eye to pending issues for the peace of the Korean Peninsula," Kwon added.

Pyongyang cancelled the train runs Wednesday (May 24), just one day before the test was scheduled to take place, citing the lack of an agreement between the countries' militaries for the safety of people who will ride the trains crossing the border.

In the telegram, Kwon also urged the South Korean government to apologize for the burning of the North Korean flag by some South Korean demonstrators and called the alleged moves by the South to link economic aid to the test runs "clumsy." The finger-pointing came a day after Seoul's chief delegate to inter-Korean economic talks criticized the North Korean government for the test run halt.

Seoul does not see the remarks as unusual, viewing them in line with the North¡?s prior reaction in other situations. The South Korean government in fact sees a bright spot in Mr. Kwon's remarks, in that he did not mention the possibility of the North delaying or calling off planned inter-Korean economic cooperation talks. This was interpreted as an indication that the North has no intention to make things worse.

Some experts, however, express worry that the North could take issue with the South's alleged move to link provision of raw materials with the test runs, which they fear could negatively affect the upcoming economic cooperation talks.

"It will be more important to make progress [in inter-Korean relations] rather than finger-pointing," a high-ranking presidential official said.