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SEOUL: A high-level delegation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conveyed a message from their leader Kim Jong-il to the president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) during a rare meeting Sunday in the latest sign of warming ties on the tense Korean peninsula. President Lee Myung-bak and three DPRK officials discussed inter-Korean cooperation during the half-hour meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, Lee spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said. He said the message from Kim Jong-il, conveyed verbally, addressed "progress on inter-Korean cooperation" but refused to provide further details. The Blue House meeting — the first since Lee took office about 18 months ago — took place just hours before the funeral of Kim Dae-jung, the former ROK president who met with Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in 2000 for a historic Korean summit. The late Kim, a longtime dissident-turned-president who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reach out to the DPRK with his "Sunshine Policy" of reconciliation, died Tuesday at the age of 85. The DPRK and the ROK remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 in a truce, not a peace treaty. Tanks and troops still guard the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone dividing the two sides. Kim Dae-jung, who served as president from 1998 to 2003, advocated engaging the nuclear-armed DPRK, and sought to ease reconciliation by plying the nation with aid. At their breakthrough 2000 meeting, he and Kim Jong-il agreed on a series of reconciliation projects that saw a flowering of relations between the rivals.But ties have been tense since President Lee, a conservative, abandoned the Sunshine Policy when he took office in February 2008 and conditioned aid to the DPRK's commitment on nuclear disarmament. Pyongyang, in response, abandoned the reconciliation talks and most of the inter-Korean projects. The DPRK also has been locked in an international standoff with the US and other nations over its atomic ambitions after launching a rocket, test-firing missiles and conducting an underground nuclear test. However, there have been signs of an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula in recent days. After welcoming former US President Bill Clinton during his mission to secure the release of two jailed American reporters, the DPRK freed a South Korean citizen held for four months.The DPRK still has custody of four ROK fishermen whose boat strayed into northern waters, but announced it would allow the resumption of some joint projects suspended in the past year and the reunion of families separate during the Korean War. Kim Dae-jung's death prompted condolences from the DPRK leader, who dispatched the high-level delegation of six to pay their respects — the first time the DPRK has sent officials to mourn a former ROK president.The delegation, led by senior Workers' Party official Kim Ki Nam and spy chief Kim Yang Gon, arrived Friday and went straight to the mourning site at the National Assembly. They bowed before the late leader's portrait, burned incense and shook his sons' hands. The DPRK has sent a high-level condolence delegation only once before — for the 2001 funeral of Chung Ju-yung, founder of the ROK's Hyundai Group, which funded the first inter-Korean joint projects. Kim's state funeral was set for 2 pm (0500 GMT; 1 am EDT) Sunday at the National Assembly. The DPRK delegation flew back to Pyongyang before the funeral. "Thank you! Thank you! We're heading back in a positive mood," Kim Ki Nam told reporters as the delegation departed downtown Seoul to catch their flight to Pyongyang. At the Blue House meeting, the DPRK delegation explained Kim Jong-il's thoughts on "progress on inter-Korean cooperation," Lee's spokesman said. The spokesman said he could not provide an exact quote of Kim Jong Il's message because of the sensitivity of the matter. Lee, in response, detailed his government's "consistent and firm" policy on the DPRK, and asked them to convey his comments to Kim, the spokesman said. The ROK president also reiterated the need for "sincere" dialogue. The DPRK delegation replied they wished the two nations would cooperate and resolve all pending issues, he said. However, in a reminder of the tensions, the DPRK's Rodong Sinmun newspaper warned in an editorial Sunday of "merciless, immediate" strikes if provoked by the ROK and the United States, which are holding joint military exercise in the ROK. Washington and Seoul call the drills routine exercises. The US has 28,500 troops in the ROK. |
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