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DPRK's moves ease tensions on Korean Peninsula

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-23 13:36

Kim Yang Gon, a member of the delegation and head of inter-Korean affairs of the DPRK, held talks Saturday with his South Korean counterpart Hyun In-taek for the first time in nearly two years.

South Korea's unification minister Hyun In-taek (R) meets with Kim Yang-gon, head of the DPRK's Workers' Party unification front department, from Pyongyang on Saturday in the first high-level cross-border contact in nearly two years. [Xinhua]

Relations between the two sides on the Korean Peninsula had soured since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took power about 18 months ago and cut off a steady flow of aid to the DPRK since a 2000 summit.

"After meeting with several people (in the South) I felt the imperative need for North-South relations to improve," Kim told Hyun during a brief photo session, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.

Related readings:  DPRK conveys Kim Jong-il's message to ROK  ROK president meets DPRK delegation: Yonhap  Lee Myung-bak to meet DPRK envoys on Sunday  No talk on Saturday between Lee Myung-bak, DPRK envoys  DPRK envoys hold talks with ROK minister

"The message which Pyongyang is sending to Seoul is meaningful," said the Choson Sinbo newspaper, run by ethnic Koreans in Japan.

"It showed the will of the DPRK to actively push forward the cooperation between the two sides under the spirits conveyed in the two joint declarations signed by the two top leaders in 2000 and 2007, and to improve inter-Korean relations and realize national reunion," the newspaper said.

The newspaper said it was possible to improve inter-Korean relations "as long as the two sides could recognize mutually the idea and system of the other side and seek common interests under the same nationality."

Meanwhile, Washington and Seoul were still widely divided with Pyongyang on a number of knotty problems.

The United States reiterated that US-DPRK talks proposed by the DPRK must be conducted within the six-party talks, which also included China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Lee said he wanted a "candid dialogue" with the north on the dismantling of its nuclear programs, which the DPRK has said it would never abandon.

It was reported Saturday that Lee would meet Sunday with the DPRK condolence delegation.

The meeting was expected to last around 15 minutes, during which the DPRK side would deliver a message from Kim Jong-il to Lee, reports said.

On the agenda were expected to be issues such as the DPRK's detention of four South Korean fishermen since July 30 and the resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue.

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