On August 23, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with a DPRK delegation at the presidential Blue House during their visit to mourn South Korean former president Kim Dae-jung. The delegation conveyed a message from DPRK leader Kim Jong-il to the South Korean president, expressing the intention to develop a DPRK-South Korea cooperative relationship.
A day earlier, South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek held talks with Kim Gi-nam, secretary of central committee of the DPRK Worker's Party, in Seoul. This was the first meeting between high-level government officials of the two sides since Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008.
Although a spokesperson for the Blue House denied on August 24 that Kim Jong-il had proposed a leadership meeting with Lee Myung-bak, South Koreans from all circles of society generally spoke highly of the outcome of the delegation's visit to South Korea, believing that it brought hope of improving DPRK-South Korea relations.
Nevertheless, South Korean public opinion also believes that the overall improvement in the relations will still need some time, and depends on the development of the DPRK nuclear issue and on whether the two sides can resume the intergovernmental dialogue.
It is likely that non-governmental exchanges between the two sides will be active over a certain period. Earlier, Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of South Korean-based Hyundai Group, visited the DPRK and reached five non-governmental agreements involving matters such as the resuming of the Mount Kumgang tourism project.
Since August 21, the DPRK has lifted the ban on overland border passage to Kaesong Industrial Complex and the limitation on duration of stay, which were imposed on December 1, 2008. The DPRK has also resumed both the regular freight service of the Gyeongui Line and the normal operations of the Consultation Office for the North-South Economic Cooperation.
On August 20, the South Korean Red Cross also sent a telegram to its DPRK counterpart to suggest holding a talk in the near future to discuss the reunion of the separated families during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition, Philip Goldberg, coordinator for the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1874, said on August 24 in Seoul that the undertakings, including the resuming of the Mount Kumgang tourism project, conducted by inter-Korean non-governmental organizations were not against the UN Security Council sanctions on the DPRK.
Expanding non-governmental exchanges has offered a channel for the two sides to emerge from the dilemma.
Since the current South Korean administration took office, DPRK-South Korea relations had continued to deteriorate, channels for DPRK-South Korea dialogue had been paralyzed and non-government exchanges had also been suspended. To improve relations, it is necessary to initially set up dialogue channels.
The current South Korean administration would like to see active DPRK-South Korea non-governmental exchanges and hopes such exchanges will lead to intergovernmental dialogues. The South Korean government once stressed that the agreements reached between Hyundai Group and the DPRK were just non-governmental and their implementation is still pending dialogues and negotiations between the two governments.
In respect of the DPRK, expanding non-governmental exchanges will help to ease the pressures brought by recent international sanctions, and set the stage for improving intergovernmental relations with South Korea. The DPRK relaxed restraints on DPRK-South Korea non-governmental exchanges to create a good public opinion environment for improving intergovernmental relations with South Korea, and to leave room for resuming the DPRK-South Korea intergovernmental dialogue. Meanwhile, it also released a positive signal to the outside world.
In short, although the all-round improvement in DPRK-South Korea relations still depends on the positive progress made in the DPRK nuclear issue, the outcome of the DPRK delegation's visit to South Korea has indeed created a good opportunity to resume the DPRK-South Korea intergovernmental dialogue. Initial signs of recovery of DPRK-South Korea relations have emerged.
By People's Daily Online
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