South Korea will continue efforts to improve ties with North Korea despite last week’s failed talks, Seoul’s point man on Pyongyang said Thursday.
The two-day high-level talks ended Saturday with no agreements on pending bilateral issues or plans for further talks. The South demanded regular reunions for families separated in the 1950-53 Korean War, while the North insisted the two sides resume tours to Mount Kumgang, a lucrative source of income for the North.
“Our government wanted to hold extensive and serious talks on the issue of the separated families and other various projects where practical cooperation is possible,” Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said during a panel discussion organized by the Kwanhun Club, a fraternity of senior journalists.
“The North, however, strongly insisted that we first agree on the resumption of tours to Mount Kumgang, so we weren’t able to reach a meaningful agreement,” he said.
South Korea halted the tours in 2008 after one of its tourists was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
“We won’t be affected at every turn, but we will try to sustain the momentum for the development of South-North ties that was gained through the Aug. 25 deal,” Hong said.
Last week’s talks were an outcome of the Aug. 25 inter-Korean agreement that defused heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula following a land mine blast at the border blamed on the North. (Yonhap)
