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Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong on Monday said it seems the North Korean leadership is ¡°stable.¡± He based the opinion on a flurry of official North Korean reports showing ailing leader Kim Jong-il inspecting various sites.
The unification minister made the remarks at a meeting with reporters on the ministry beat over luncheon, citing North Korean media reports that Kim Jong-il engaged in public activities on 22 occasions since Oct. 4. "We should conclude that everything is normal" in North Korea, he added.
"In the new year, North Korea will understand our sincerity and come to the dialogue table,¡± the minister said. ¡°We'll keep calling for dialogue, no matter how much North Korea accuses us." He said while some experts believed the hardline North Korean military was behind the North¡¯s recent saber-rattling, ¡°others say that the military is not involved in external affairs yet."
The minister said the government will keep asking South Korean activists to refrain from releasing anti-Communist leaflets into the North.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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