The two Koreas restored a telephone line across the border Friday as part of rapid steps to set up next week’s official talks to normalize relations.
North Korea reopened the communication channel in the afternoon which was severed amid military tension in March. It also proposed holding a working-level meeting in Gaeseong on Sunday to prepare for the first formal talks in 28 months.
Later in the day, Seoul sent a telegram through the line and suggested holding the preparatory talks at the South’s side at the border village of Panumjeom at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
On Thursday the two sides agreed to resume dialogue to reduce tensions and mend bilateral ties.
The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea announced that it would accept Seoul’s call for governmental dialogue and offered to discuss a range of issues including reactivating the suspended Gaeseong industrial complex and resuming a tour program to Mount Geumgang.
In response South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae suggested later in the day that ministers meet in Seoul next Wednesday.
As the first step for normalization, the North on Friday reconnected a Red Cross communication line which was cut off at the height of cross-border tensions in late March along with three other inter-Korean military channels and one with the U.N. Command.
Running through Panmunjeom, the link had been a vital source of communication between the two Koreas that technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
South Koreans look to the North from an observation post near the Demilitarized zone Friday. (Yonhap News)
The surprise call from the communist country is boosting hopes for the normalization of the factory park and possibly a breakthrough for other stalled commercial and humanitarian projects.
The CPRK also proposed the upcoming discussion cover other contentious issues including reunions of families separated by the Korean War and celebrations of the June 15, 2000, South-North Joint Declaration and the July 4, 1972, North-South Joint Statement.
The overture followed a months-long deluge of North Korea’s nuclear threats targeting Seoul-Washington military exercises and the strongest-ever U.N. sanctions over its February atomic test.
Pyongyang barred South Korean managers and cargo from entering Gaeseong on April 4 and pulled out all of its own 53,000 employees five days later.
Seoul officials see the perceived deescalation of tension as a prelude to President Park Geun-hye’s much-touted “trust-building process” designed to reengage Pyongyang while deterring its saber-rattling.
“Though details are to be hammered out, the envisioned governmental dialogue means that we have begun the process,” a Unification Ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“Hopefully things will work out smoothly so that we can form trust and come out on to the path to inter-Korean peace and coprosperity.”
Senior presidential press secretary Lee Jung-hyun said: “The governmental meeting is the way to go, and through the talks I hope that the two Koreas will lay the foundation for trust and establish desirable relations.”
While analysts cautioned against heightened hopes, a U.S.-China summit remains a crucial factor.
Barack Obama and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet for the first time in California later in the day and discuss the North Korea nuclear standoff as a key item on the agenda.
Park held her first summit with Obama last month and plans to visit China later this month.
Beijing, Pyongyang’s trusted ally and patron, has ratcheted up pressure on the defiant regime by reaffirming the denuclearization principle with Seoul and Washington and closing dealings with its chief foreign exchange bank.
The North, however, has declared nuclear and economic development as the top two national priorities, saying its atomic programs are no longer subject to negotiation.
The two major powers positively responded to the tentative agreement for inter-Korean dialogue for now.
“We’re happy and welcome that the North and South agreed to recover their contact and dialogue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday.
While expressing support for improved inter-Korean ties, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated the need for Pyongyang’s responsibility to follow through on its past disarmament pledges.
“There remain a number of steps that the North Koreans need to take, including abiding by their international obligations, by the 2005 joint statement, in order to have further discussion,” she told a news briefing in Washington.
During a meeting with South Korean and American military commanders, Park again urged the Kim Jong-un regime to relinquish its nuclear ambitions and change course.
“I’ve been saying that I will actively set in motion the peninsula trust-building process if North Korea gives up its nuclear programs and makes the right choice,” she said at Cheong Wa Dae.
“Only if we maintain our perfect military readiness posture and deterrence against North Korea, it will never dare to carry out provocations and we will be able to induce a genuine change.”
By Shin Hyon-hee (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)