SEOUL, Dec. 11 (UPI) — North and South Korea held ministerial-level talks in the industrial town of Kaesong to address outstanding issues, but North Korea has slammed the South for its lack of cooperation.
The South’s chief delegate, Vice Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi, met with Jon Jong Su, vice director of Pyongyang’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland at the North Korean border town on Friday, the Korea Herald reported.
“We thought about [inter-Korea] business projects after coming down here to Kaesong yesterday and looking around the district,” Jon said. “Despite the winter’s cold weather, let’s make utmost efforts to bring the spring sun to North-South relations.”
The meeting began in the morning but was adjourned due to disagreements over a joint statement. A second round finally began after 6 p.m., but specific reasons for the delay were not given. The North is reportedly keen to restart an inter-Korea tourism program to Mount Kumgang and the South is interested in resuming family reunions.
But as talks were momentarily suspended in the afternoon, North Korea issued a statement critical of South Korea’s policies.
“The South Korean authorities have been unprecedentedly talking big about North Korea nuclear cooperation with foreign powers, or making a fuss about North Korea human rights, but they are throwing cold water on the atmosphere for talks and stirring up confrontation between a unitary people,” Pyongyang said on state-controlled news site DPRK Today.
North Korea also denounced Seoul’s ruling Saenuri Party for encouraging the distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets and engaging in other North Korea human rights “provocations,” South Korean outlet Newsis reported.
In a separate statement on North Korean outlet Uriminzokkiri, Pyongyang said the South was engaging in anti-unification “crimes” by strengthening its alliance with the United States, and that unification was strictly an issue between the two Koreas.
Ordinary North Koreans, however, may be taking a more optimistic approach to the talks. Yonhap reported from Kaesong some North Korean factory workers in the area said they hoped the talks would have a positive outcome.
A North Korean man in his 60s told Yonhap, “How is it that we have been divided for 70 years? We must join forces without foreign intervention.”
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