South Korea sought to reassure North Korea that it did not want confrontation yesterday after the communist nation threatened to sever all ties, throwing into doubt a joint industrial park and tourism exchanges.
North Korea warned on Thursday that it might cut any remaining relations between the neighbors, accusing the South of seeking a policy of “reckless confrontation.”
The warning was seen as an attempt to pressure Seoul’s new conservative government to change its hardline stance on Pyongyang.
“We don’t in any way want confrontation with North Korea,” said Kim Ho-nyeon, spokesman for Seoul’s Unification Ministry in charge of relations with Pyongyang. “Our position remains unchanged that we want to resolve all problems through dialogue between the South and the North.”
The warning raised concern that the North may ditch two key civilian projects between the sides — a tour program and an industrial park project — which have continued despite a freeze in government-level ties.
North Korea has been unhappy with new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February with a pledge to get tough on the rival state — a stance that contrasted with his two liberal predecessors who aggressively sought reconciliation by providing massive aid to the impoverished nation.
Pyongyang has suspended all government-level exchanges, though the sides met as part of broader international negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear programs. It has also rejected a food aid proposal and dialogue offers from the South, saying they lacked sincerity.
Ties frayed further after a South Korean woman was shot dead by a North Korean soldier in July during a tour to the North’s Diamond Mountain resort after she entered an adjacent restricted military area. South Korea immediately suspended the mountain tour program.
Still, other civilian exchanges have continued, including another tour program to the North’s ancient border city of Kaesong and a joint factory park nearby. The two programs have been considered prominent symbols of inter-Korean reconciliation. But they have also been criticized for providing hard currency that could be used for North Korea’s nuclear development.
North Korea has been particularly upset by the new South Korean administration’s position that it may selectively implement agreements that the North signed with Seoul’s previous administrations. Pyongyang demands the pacts — which involve large-scale aid projects — be carried out unconditionally.
Kim said South Korea “respects the spirit” of all agreements between the two sides and called for dialogue to discuss how to carry them out. But he stopped short of saying Seoul would implement the previous pacts.
The spokesman also urged discussions over the killing of the South Korean tourist so the mountain tour project could resume. The North has so far rejected Seoul’s demands for a joint probe.
The two Koreas fought the 1950 to 1953 Korean War that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically still at war.
Their ties had warmed significantly since the first-ever 2000 summit of their leaders before freezing again this year.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was