Nice news for peace in the region:: S.Korea proposes talks with North
SEOUL, South Korea, March 9 (UPI) -- South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung on Thursday proposed holding official talks with North Korea
to discuss ways to fuel the fledgling economic cooperation between the
two ideological rivals.
Attempting to implement a landmark 1991 inter-Korean reconciliation
agreement and encourage cooperation, Kim also proposed an exchange of
special envoys with his country's northern neighbor.
"The Republic of Korea is ready to help North Korea get through its
economic troubles," Kim said in a speech at the Free University of
Berlin, during his visit to Germany. "We hope that North Korea will
shed all its doubts and actively respond to our proposals."
In order to achieve economic cooperation and exchange, the South is
ready to help the North improve its roads, railways, utilities and
telecommunication facilities, Kim said. Agreements establishing
bilateral investment between the two Koreas are sure to help create a
favorable atmosphere for Seoul's investment in North Korea, he added.
Saying that resolution of food shortages in North Korea requires
foreign aid, Kim stressed the necessity of "fundamental agricultural
reform," including implementation of modern agricultural tools and
up-to-date fertilization and irrigation techniques.
"In order to resolve all the issues effectively, it is necessary for
government officials on both sides to begin talks," Kim said.
He also urged the North to help reunite families split as a result of
the 1950-53 Korean War.
Kim's proposal was conveyed to Pyongyang on Wednesday, Kim's chief
security adviser Hwang Won-tak told Seoul's official Yonhap News
Agency.
Talks between the two Koreas have not been held since June 1999, when
top officials from both countries met in Beijing to discuss Seoul's
fertilizer aid to the North and consider the issue of divided families.
But the talks were interrupted after a deadly naval clash occurred in
the buffer zone off the western coast of the peninsula, and after North
Korea detained a South Korean tourist on Mount Kumgang.
In his New Year address, Kim proposed creating an inter-Korean
economic cooperation body.
Kim's economic cooperation initiatives are part of his "sunshine
policy" of engaging the North. Since he took office two years ago, Kim,
a reformer with a long history as opposition leader, has pushed a
policy of reconciliation by separating economic from political affairs
in dealing with the North.
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Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
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