A file picture shows boarder guards at the truce village of Panmunjom. [Yonhap News Photo]
North Korea has turned down an offer of inter-Korea dialogue with a tacit response to South Korea following the flamboyant launch of what it claimed to be a workable intercontinental ballistic missile that causes diplomatic confusion among superpowers.
North Korean Kim Jong-un has been busy boozing around to celebrate its "successful" ICBM test launch, disregarding a series of peace overtures by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The South's defense ministry followed up with an offer of military talks Friday on easing tensions and Red Cross talks on August 1 to discuss a fresh round of reunions for family members separated by war, both in the truce village of Panmunjom.
There has been no official response from Pyongyang, except for a sarcastic commentary carried by its state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on Thursday. "Ditching confrontation and hostility is a precondition for opening the door for the two Koreas' reconciliation and unity," the newspaper said.
Seoul is still waiting for North Korea's official response, but the defense ministry said talks are technically impossible this week. "It's difficult to hold talks today because there has been no response from North Korea," ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters, stressing that reopening cross-border hotlines is "a very pressing issue for peace and stability on the Koran peninsula".
Relations were strained in March 2010 when Seoul blamed a North Korean submarine for torpedoing the warship Cheonan. In November the same year, the North shelled a front-line island, killing four South Koreans and briefly triggering concerns of a full-scale conflict. Seoul suspended almost all exchanges with Pyongyang following its fourth nuclear test in January 2016.
Despite widespread concerns at home and abroad over North Korea's unyielding push for the development of missiles and nuclear weapons, Moon has proposed the suspension of all acts of hostility on the heavily armed inter-Korean border, a security guarantee, a peace treaty and other incentives in return for denuclearization.
His advisory group, the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, suggested that Seoul should step up efforts to hold talks regularly, reopen severed cross-border communication lines, and map out a "comprehensive" negotiation strategy aimed at inducing an agreement on complete nuclearization by 2020.
However, the North's ICBM test launch has complicated Seoul's diplomatic initiative. In the run-up to the G-20 summit in Germany, Moon and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on a two-track policy of engagement and pressure while US President Donald Trump cast doubt over China's role. Beijing, which is Pyongyang's last-remaining major ally and economic lifeline, has been reluctant to push Kim too hard.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
