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U.S. officials have become more forthright about Seoul¡¯s engagement policy with Pyongyang. Washington¡¯s chief negotiator in six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program Christopher Hill said during a visit to Seoul on Tuesday that package tours to Mt. Kumgang seem ¡°to be designed to give money to the North Korean authorities.¡± He said the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex ¡°is designed to make a long-term investment in human capital¡± while the Mt.Kumgang project ¡°seems to be designed to give money to the North Korean authorities. So I have my view that they are very two different kind of projects," he said. "So I understand Kaesong in the context of a reform element. With the other project, I don't understand it as much.¡±
Hill stressed his remarks were his ¡°personal views,¡± but considering that his visit to Seoul came to coordinate opinions before the planned visit by U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice to South Korea on Thursday, they seem to reflect Washington's official position.
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U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, center, talks to the media as his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo, right, listens to prior to their meeting in Seoul on Tuesday. North Korea blasted U.N. sanctions Tuesday aimed at punishing the country for its atomic test, saying the measures were a declaration of war and that the nation wouldn't yield to such pressure now that it's a nuclear weapons power. /AP
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Rice during a press conference at the State Department before her trip to South Korea, China, Japan and Russia was asked what she felt about Seoul¡¯s reluctance to stop the two projects. The secretary answered Seoul clearly said it was reviewing activities with respect to North Korea in general, and the U.S. will watch the result. "I suspect that a lot of it has to do with what North Korea does,¡± she added.
However, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters on the day that there was no problem with the two projects. Ban said all products manufactured in the industrial park won approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce. As for the package tours, he admitted there was the question for what purposes the profits are being used, but added the UN Security Council resolution against the North does not take issue with cash going into the North if it is earned via legitimate commercial transactions. Asked whether the UNSC will deem North Korean leader Kim Jong-il involved in spreading weapons of mass destruction, freeze his overseas assets and deport relatives who live abroad, Ban answered there needs to be evidence for the UNSC to do that, and it will not be easy for it to do so.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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