North urged to discuss nuclear issue with South

By Kim Se-jeong A senior South Korean official said Sunday that any future bilateral talks with North Korea should include nuclear issues as well as its recent attacks on South Korea. “We’ve considered putting the nuclear issue on the agenda of inter-Korean talks for a long time,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “To stop the North’s nuclear development, the issue has to be discussed bilaterally. Other members of the six-party talks have agreed that the two Koreas should deal with the matter." The reaction came after North Korea made a series of overtures for the immediate resumption of inter-Korean talks to defuse military tension. In a second call Saturday, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland called for an “unconditional and early opening” of talks between the two governments. “We can agree on the level, venue and date of the talks through consultation,” it stated. The committee also urged Red Cross talks, and discussions on resuming the Mt. Geumgang tours and the future of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex to be held soon. “We’d suggest the talks take place in Gaeseong either at the end of January or the beginning of February,” it said. In a recent trip to North Korea, Siegfried S. Hecker, a U.S. nuclear scientist was invited to a construction site of an experimental light-water reactor and uranium enrichment facility. Speaking to the White House about his visit, the scientist said the North’s nuclear capability was beyond anyone’s anticipation posing a greater threat to the regional security than was previously thought. Less than a month later, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing two civilians and two marines. The South Korean official said both the Yeonpyeong incident and the sinking of the frigate Cheonan should be discussed when Seoul and Pyongyang meet for bilateral dialogue. South Korea has ignored North Korean overtures, seeing them as more of a strategy to put the blame on it for the absence of dialogue. Officials here are also wary of the North’s repetitive tactics of stoking tension on the Korean Peninsula before coming to talks with raised stakes and demands for concessions. The North’s latest proposal came roughly 10 days before a U.S.-China summit scheduled for Jan. 19. “The attempt by the North is to pave the way for enhancing its relations with the U.S. and China, which are demanding meaningful gestures for denuclearization of the regime and for better relations with South Korea,” Japan’s Kyodo News reported. During their summit in Washington, President Barack Obama of the United States and Hu Jintao of China are expected to discuss the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. is expected to ask China, believed to have a degree of influence over North Korea, to exert its power to prevent the communist regime from taking any further provocative action.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr