South Korean President Lee Myung-bak yesterday reached out to North Korea, saying Seoul was open to talks and offering closer economic ties despite high tensions on the peninsula.
In his New Year policy address, just days after Pyongyang called for improved relations this year, Lee also urged the North to abandon its “military adventurism.”
Relations between the two Koreas plunged after the North shelled a border island in November, killing four people, including two civilians. The South has since staged a series of military exercises, including a live-fire drill on Dec. 20 on the island, but the North did not follow through with threats of a new and deadlier attack.
Despite the heightened tensions, Lee held out hopes for improved ties, saying the door for talks between the Koreas was “still open.”
“If the North exhibits sincerity, we have both the will and the plan to drastically enhance economic cooperation together with the international community,” he said.
“The North must come to the realization that nothing can be gained through military adventurism ... Nuclear weapons and military adventurism must be discarded,” he added.
The North, in a joint New Year editorial in state media on Saturday, said tensions “should be defused as early as possible,” stressing dialogue and cooperation “should be promoted proactively.”
“This year we should launch a more determined campaign to improve inter-Korean relations,” it said.
Analysts said Lee, speaking for the first time since North Korea issued its New Year message, was telling Pyongyang that Seoul was ready to revive talks, which have been at a standstill for three years.
“This is Seoul’s answer to Pyongyang’s New Year editorial that it is politically ready to revive talks,” said Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
Baek said breakthroughs in inter-Korea relations were often made possible by the determination of political leaders, despite very difficult diplomatic circumstances.
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