South Korea yesterday warned against raised expectations of a major breakthrough in relations with North Korea, saying Pyongyang had some way to go before sanctions could be eased.
The two Koreas agreed to resume a high-level dialogue during a surprise and extremely rare visit to South Korea on Saturday by a delegation from Pyongyang led by the North Korean military’s General Political Bureau director Hwang Pyong-so, who is widely seen as the No. 2 to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye and other senior officials, while welcoming the unexpected visit, stressed that it only marked a beginning.
“We should make efforts to ensure that the high-level contact will lead to regular dialogue, not just a one-time dialogue,” Park said.
Park has repeatedly said the door to dialogue with Pyongyang is open — even a possible summit with Kim — but insists that North Korea must first take a tangible step toward abandoning its nuclear weapons program.
The high-level dialogue that the two sides agreed to resume by early next month has been in limbo for seven months. The last round, in February, resulted in North Korea hosting a rare reunion of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The cash-strapped North has demanded that Seoul lift unilateral sanctions imposed after the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette the Cheonan in 2010.
South Korea says the vessel was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine, but Pyongyang has always denied any involvement.
“Our government’s basic position is that these measures can be lifted only after North Korea takes a responsible step that the South Korean people accept,” South Korean Ministry of Unification spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told reporters.
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
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