Icy inter-Korean relations are starting to show signs of improvement. North Korea on Wednesday expressed "regret" over the deaths of six South Koreans caused by an abrupt discharge of dam water north of the border last month, and South Korea is expected to resume humanitarian aid to the North. "Issues of the joint Kaesong Industrial Estate and package tours to the Mt. Kumgang resort will be taken up the next time," a senior official said Wednesday.
◆ Mt. Kumgang Tours and Kaesong
The North also expressed "deep condolences" to the victims' families during working-level talks on flood prevention held in Kaesong. "One of the major roadblocks to inter-Korean relations has been removed," a Unification Ministry official said. Though the North did not use the word "apology," the government takes it as one," said the official.
The North has never used the word in inter-Korean relations over the last six decades and expressed "regret" only five times, referring to "an unfortunate incident" and "an inappropriate event" once each.
Wage and lease issues at the Kaesong Industrial Complex also have to be ironed out. In June, when its provocations against the South peaked, Pyongyang demanded that wages for North Korean workers at the industrial estate be raised to US$300, an increase of four to six times, and demanded another $500 million for the already-paid land lease.
In September it began to soften its position and proposed that wages be raised by 5 percent of basic pay as usual. Noting that the North has not explicitly withdrawn the demand for $800 million, the official said the matter need to be discussed.
But the resumption of package tours to Mt. Kumgang will not be so easily resolved. The North has yet to apologize for the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist at the resort by North Korean guards last year. The South has set three conditions for the resumption of tours, which net the North substantial hard currency. It wants an investigation of the incident, a pledge to prevent recurrences and a guarantee of the safety of visitors.
Pyongyang has recently said it wants to resume tours to Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong, but Seoul is unlikely to respond unless the three conditions are met. A formula of paying for the tours in goods instead of cash to prevent funding nuclear and missile development is reportedly under study. The North is evidently against the idea.
◆ No Undue Haste
Recent signs of improved inter-Korean relations are due to coinciding interests of the two Koreas. Prof. Lee Jo-won Chungang University said, "North Korea needs better inter-Korean relations prior to bilateral talks with the United States and multilateral nuclear talks with other countries, because the regime's future depends on them. South Korea will be able to reduce domestic ideological conflict by managing inter-Korean relations at an adequately friendly level.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "Because it has signed up to international sanctions against the North, the government won't hasten to improve inter-Korean relations." He said the North would have proposed high-level talks instead of Red Cross talks on food aid if the South was offering the 300,000-400,000 tons annual aid previous administrations provided, instead of some 10,000 to 30,000 tons now being considered.