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Ri Son-kwon, chairman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), announces on North Korean Central Television the reopening of the Panmunjeom communication channel at 3:30 pm (3pm North Korean time) on Jan. 3. (Korean Central Television/Yonhap News)
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The North Korean side is predicted to send the head of its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland
If South and North Korea do hold talks, they are likely to be between Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon on the South Korean side and Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) chairman Ri Son-kwon representing North Korea. In response to Cho’s proposal for senior-level inter-Korean talks in a press briefing on Jan. 2, Ri announced a day later that the inter-Korean communication channel at Panmunjeom was being reopened. “We intend to establish a close linkage with the South Korean side from a sincere good-faith stance,” Ri declared. A South Korean Unification Ministry source said Ri was “very likely” to hold talks with Cho as CPRF chairman. “If that happens, there will be ministerial-level inter-Korean talks between the Minister of Unification and the CPRF chairman,” the source explained. If Ri does participate as Cho’s partner in dialogue, the situation appears unlikely to bring the sort of controversy over “rank” seen during the Park Geun-hye administration. At a June 2017 meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly (North Korea’s equivalent of the National Assembly), the CPRF was upgraded from a peripheral Workers’ Party body to an official state organization, making questions about its official status or representativeness unlikely. Ri himself comes from a military background and has taken part in inter-Korean general-level talks and military working-level talks since 2005 as a staffer and a delegation member. A source in the South Korean reserves with experience holding talks with Ri described him as a “right-hand man to United Front Department chief Kim Yong-chol, who is in charge of South Korea issues for Pyongyang.” “He’s a bit impetuous, but he is a highly skilled expert in talks,” the source said of Ri. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
