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Two Koreas strive for breakthrough at talks

By Shin Hyon-hee and Joint Press Corps


GAESEONG -- The two Koreas on Wednesday went back to work to iron out their differences on reactivating their idle factory park during the seventh round of talks in Gaeseong.

They traded new draft agreements during a morning session and fine-tuned their positions in an apparently warmer atmosphere than previous rounds.

The two sides were at odds over who was responsible for the unprecedented, four-month freeze of the manufacturing zone and how to preclude any relapse.

Seoul demands Pyongyang’s assurances that it will not block off the district again, whereas Pyongyang claims that such safeguards should be prepared by both sides.

“With the focus on guarantees against a relapse, we explained measures for a joint committee for the complex, its globalization and others,” a Unification Ministry official told reporters after the morning session.

“The North side explained its stance, centering on the contents in the Aug. 7 special statement by the spokesperson of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.”

The meeting came on the heels of a battle of nerves since the sixth round on July 25 broke down over how to prevent another shutdown of the industrial park. 

The South made what it called a “final” offer of dialogue on July 28, while pressing Pyongyang to budge by approving civilian aid for flood damage and the weak in the impoverished country and announcing plans to compensate businesses in exchange for their rights to their property in Gaeseong.

After a 10-day letup, the North on Aug. 7 accepted the proposal through the CPRK statement, saying it will lift the suspension and entry ban and promising to “fully protect” the safety and assets of South Koreans.

“The North side will lift the step for temporarily suspending operation in the (complex) it declared on April 8 and fully allow the entry of South Korean businesses,” said the committee in charge of cross-border affairs.

“It will ensure the normal attendance of its workers at the South Korean enterprises which are ready to operate after equipment is checked. It will guarantee the safety of personnel of the south side in (Gaeseong) and fully protect the properties of businesses.”

With Pyongyang insisting on joint safeguards, it remains to be seen whether the latest talks will yield a breakthrough.

Another potential source of contention is who the signatories of the deal should be.

Seoul wants the agreement to be signed by its Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and Kim Yang-gon, head of the United Front Department in the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.

But Pyongyang seems reluctant to put forward its spy and inter-Korean affairs chief and does not consider the two to be on the same “level,” which was the main reason for the collapse of a planned meeting in June which would have been the first high-level government dialogue since 2007. 

“Who’s signing the agreement is important, but what’s in it is more important. Officials with due responsibility could come and sign or they may entrust others with authority. There are many ways,” another ministry official told The Korea Herald, requesting anonymity as the talks are ongoing.

Despite lingering differences, hopes have risen for the revival of the last remaining symbol of cross-border rapprochement, given the North‘s recent “forward-looking” attitude.

The mood appeared more cordial than in earlier rounds. 

Touching down in the North Korean border city, the South’s lead negotiator Kim Ki-woong quietly said “Good to see you” to his counterpart Park Chol-su who responded with a smile. During the past encounters they mostly exchanged no greetings or smiles but flat, ceremonial handshakes.

“The fact that today we sit face to face for the seventh time underscores the problem that we representatives have to deal with is not simple at all,” said Kim, director-general of inter-Korean cooperation district support at the Unification Ministry, as the morning session kicked off.

“As the old saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. If we make efforts in unison for the future-oriented normalization of the Gaeseong complex, we will be able to overcome any problem, any difficulty.”

The North‘s Park responded with a rosy outlook for the talks, pointing to good weather and preparations so far.

“If the South is actively engaged in discussions through today’s meeting, a good outcome could be brought about ahead of tomorrow (Liberation Day),” said Park, vice director of the General Bureau of the Special Zone Development Guidance.

Businessmen, meanwhile, nervously awaited good news from across the border.

About 10 company executives early in the morning visited the Headquarters for Inter-Korean Dialogue in central Seoul, from where Kim’s delegation departed for Gaeseong.

They were holding small banners calling for “guarantees for stable management activity at the complex” and “allowing trips to the North for facility maintenance and repair.”

Some 30 South Korean managers and employees who were forced out of work turned up in the border city of Paju, waving to the delegation aboard a bus with a placard reading, “We want to work: the normalization of the Gaeseong industrial complex.”

(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)