Seoul offers talks with Pyongyang

The top official of the Republic of Korea in charge of inter-Korean relations said on Monday that he has offered to hold a dialogue in January with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on issues of mutual concern.

"The Preparatory Committee for Reunification officially proposed to the DPRK holding talks about issues of mutual concern in January next year," ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said at a news conference.

Ryoo serves as a vice-chairman of the committee, launched earlier this year, along with Chung Chong-wook, former ROK ambassador to China. The committee's inaugural session was chaired in August by President Park Geun-hye to draw up a blueprint for reunification with the DPRK.

Ryoo said Seoul has sent a notice of the dialogue offer, expressing hopes for the DPRK to actively respond to the proposal. The notice was sent to Kim Yang-gon, director of the DPRK's United Front Department in charge of Seoul-Pyongyang relations.

In June 2013, Seoul sought to send Ryoo as chief negotiator for inter-Korean dialogue, but the DPRK rejected the offer, saying Ryoo was low in his official ranking compared with Kim, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The proposed talks can be held in Seoul, Pyongyang or any other place convenient for both sides, Ryoo said, noting that he hopes to meet with the DPRK side to relieve the sorrow of families, separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, before late February.

The ROK president has called the reunion of separated families "urgent and important" in inter-Korean relations as time is running out due to their advanced ages. Millions of Korean families have been separated since the armistice was agreed upon in 1953.

Waiting list

About 22,000 Koreans met their long-lost relatives through 19 rounds of family reunions from 1985 to 2014, but more than 70,000 ROK residents have been on a waiting list for reunions since 1988, with all likely to pass away within 20 years because of their age.

Asked whether the parties would discuss the May 24 sanctions and the resumption of tours to Mount Kumgang, Ryoo said "all" issues of mutual concern would be discussed if the proposed dialogue is held.

The DPRK has demanded the lifting of the sanctions, imposed by Seoul in 2010 after the ROK Navy corvette Cheonan sank in waters near the western sea border. The sanctions ban all inter-Korean exchanges except for a joint factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.

Seoul has insisted that the Cheonan warship sinking was caused by a torpedo attack by the DPRK, but Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Xinhua - AFP

(China Daily 12/30/2014 page11)