Crown Prince receives South Korean President
The two countries are expected to meet during a summit at the end of April, writes Caline Malek in Seoul
North and South Korea will next month hold their first diplomatic talks since the end of the war 65 years ago. This week, high-level talks will be held between the Koreas to prepare for the April summit between the North’s Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The summit will try to improve relations and resolve the stand-off over the North’s nuclear programme, an official told The National.
Relations between the two countries have thawed since the Koreas entered the Winter Games opening ceremony in Pyeongchang under a unified flag in February.
Dialogue between the two had been suspended since the Kaesong Industrial Complex was closed in February 2016 until the end of last year.
“There was no dialogue between both Koreas, no exchange or communication channels opened,” said Koo Byoung-sam, director of policy planning at the Ministry of Unification in Seoul.
“When a North Korean fisherman’s boat drifted towards the South, we had to send it back to the North with no communication.
“We are a divided nation and we are living under escalated tension with no proper way of communication and this can escalate into more severe tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
But there is a sense that the tides may soon change. After months of fierce nuclear talk and missile tests, Mr Kim expressed a willingness to send athletes and a delegation to the South’s first Olympics, and to resume talks.
“We televised our willingness to accept their offer, so that’s how talks happened,” Mr Koo said. “After North Korea’s military provocations last year, the international community imposed sanctions against it but it criticised them and kept provoking.
“This escalated tension across the international community to the point where military options were actually discussed.”
South Korea and the international community are working together to address the issue.
“We are taking a dual policy of imposing pressure on North Korea about the nuclear test and missile launch, and we pursue dialogue and a peaceful manner of resolving this issue,” Mr Koo said.
North Korea’s attendance at the Games changed the South’s perception of their neighbours.
“As the worsening relations between the two Koreas and the provocations prolonged, this led to the Korean general public to think poorly of North Korea,” Mr Koo said.
“But as the female ice hockey teams formed one united team playing against others, this led to a change in the South’s public perception towards North Korea in a positive way.”
He said the key pillar of the policy towards Pyongyang was to engage the public as much as possible in developing policies related to their neighbour and by building national consensus.
“By doing that, we will make every effort to build and ensure that the policy resonates with the general public,” Mr Koo said. “The national unification contract is still ongoing.”
The inter-Korean summit next month will be followed by a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Kim by the end of May.
But Washington said that nothing had yet been achieved and repeated that it would continue to maintain pressure and sanctions until Pyongyang took tangible steps towards de-nuclearisation.
China’s approach is similar to that of the US, Mr Koo said.
“While they’re in favour of peaceful negotiations between the US and North Korea for peace on the peninsula, they are also in support of a denuclearisation dialogue while demanding the suspension of North Korea’s provocations and the joint military drill between South Korea and the US.”
But Mr Koo said such talks were crucial for the stability of the Korean Peninsula.
“Our government will make various efforts to make this possible,” he said. “Unification is nothing to wish for, it’s something we have to achieve.
“In Korea’s constitution, the South and the North are one territory and one sovereign nation, so it’s our mission and obligation to work towards their unification.”
South Korea’s hosting of the Winter Olympics this year was paradoxically a start to thawing relations with its neighbour