South Korea yesterday proposed sending captured North Korean spies home in exchange for the release of South Korean citizens believed held in the North.
The overture comes a day after Seoul hinted at possible economic assistance to Pyongyang if it cooperates in addressing the issue of an estimated 486 South Koreans abducted by the North and still believed to be living there. South Korea also says the North is holding 542 others taken prisoner during the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.
"We proposed to the North that we are willing to include [former North Korean spies in the South] when South Korean abductees and POWs ... are returned," a high-ranking South Korean delegate said in Pyongyang on the sidelines of Cabinet-level talks between the countries, according to reports.
Abducted
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing talks, also said both sides "had an open exchange of discussions" on the issue of a South Korean man, who was allegedly abducted to the North decades ago and is believed to have married Japanese kidnapping victim Megumi Yokota.
In 2000, the South repatriated 63 North Korean spies to their homeland.
Another 28 alleged North Korean spies in South Korea have demanded to be repatriated.
Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, South Korea's chief delegate to the inter-Korean talks, said on Saturday that Seoul will make "a reciprocal decision of cooperation" if the North helps address the abduction issue.
Lee didn't specify what the reciprocal measure would be, but he said last week that he would propose "bold economic assistance" to its impoverished neighbor in exchange for the return of the South Korean nationals.
When the South previously raised the issue, North Korea denied holding any war prisoners and said the civilians defected voluntarily.
Nuclear program
Yesterday, Lee said he could "neither be optimistic nor pessimistic" about this week's talks, where the South also hopes to convince the North to return to stalled international talks on ending its nuclear program.
"There is a big difference in what each side wants from the talks," Lee said, according to reports from journalists who accompanied the South Korean delegation. "It is not easy. We will have to see."
On Saturday, Lee urged the North to return to nuclear disarmament talks, which were last held in November.
The North has boycotted the negotiations with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US, protesting financial restrictions imposed by Washington for the North's alleged wrongdoings, including currency counterfeiting.
The two Koreas officially remain in a state of conflict because the armistice that ended the Korean War has never been replaced with a peace treaty. However, their relations have warmed significantly since the first-ever meeting of their leaders in 2000.
The Cabinet-level talks -- the highest-level regular dialogue channel between the two states -- are to run through today.
There were no formal talks scheduled for yesterday, but delegates were expected to meet informally throughout the day.
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