Pyongyang postpones inter-Korean talks with regret<\/p>\n
By C.W. Lim<\/p>\n
SEOUL (AFP): North Korea opened contact with South Korea and
\nthe United States yesterday, in the most concrete signs yet that
\nPyongyang would pursue the break with world isolation launched by
\nthe late president Kim Il-sung.<\/p>\n
In the first inter-Korean contact since Kim Il-sung's death
\nlast Friday, North Korea notified South Korea Monday that it had
\nto postpone the historic July 25-27 inter-Korean summit, southern
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
The message was conveyed \"with regret\" through liaison contact
\nat the border truce village of Panmunjom to South Korean Prime
\nMinister Lee Young-duk from Kim Yong-sun, the North's chief
\nnegotiator for the summit, they said.<\/p>\n
The brief message said: \"As it was known already through our
\nimportant announcement, I am entrusted to inform you that the
\nscheduled North-South high-level talks needs must be postponed
\nbecause of misfortune on our side.\"<\/p>\n
The letter virtually killed chances for the two Koreas to hold
\nthe first-ever summit since their division in 1945 at an early
\ndate, but South Korean Prime Minister Lee told parliament that
\nthe earlier agreement for the summit holds good.<\/p>\n
\"The summit is still valid. Despite the death of North Korean
\nPresident Kim Il-sung, South Korea's position is to further
\nNorth-South relations peacefully through dialogue, and we will
\nremain consistent,\" Lee said.<\/p>\n
The inter-Korean contact yesterday followed what was seen here
\nas an even more encouraging development in Geneva Sunday, when
\nPyongyang said it intended to resume talks with Washington after
\nthe July 17 funeral of Kim Il-sung.<\/p>\n
US officials, speaking on the plane flying US President Bill
\nClinton from Naples to Bonn, said the North's decision had been
\nrelayed to U.S. delegates in Geneva who had been asked to remain
\nin Geneva.<\/p>\n
Washington and Pyongyang, in an agreement brokered by former
\nU.S. president Jimmy Carter, opened fresh discussions last week
\nto break the impasse over North Korea's nuclear program. The
\ntalks were suspended after Kim Il-sung's sudden death last Friday
\nat the age of 82.<\/p>\n
Robert Gallucci, the U.S. pointman in negotiations with
\nPyongyang, met for two hours in Geneva early Sunday with his
\nNorth Korean counterpart, Kang Sok-Ju. He said: \"We concluded
\nwith the plans that we would resume the talks in the coming
\nweek.\"<\/p>\n
Gallucci also said he expected North Korean concessions that
\npaved the way for the talks -- a freeze on its nuclear program
\nand a commitment not to refuel a controversial nuclear reactor --
\nwould remain in place.<\/p>\n
In Seoul, South Korean officials said they would go ahead with
\npreparations for an inter-Korean summit if North Korea responds
\nfavorably under its new leadership.<\/p>\n
\"The principle that South and North Korea have agreed on
\nsummit talks is still valid,\" the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
South Korean intelligence reports on Sunday reported that the
\nruling Workers' Party's central committee and the national
\npeople's assembly, the two main decision-making bodies, had been
\nconvened for Monday, and said the two were likely to make an
\nofficial announcement on succession.<\/p>\n
On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Lee Hong-koo said
\nKim Il-sung's son and designated successor, Kim Jong-il, 52,
\nappeared to have secured control \"very quickly\" after the death
\nof his father.<\/p>\n
He predicted that North Korea may make a significant
\nannouncement soon either on its policy or leadership change.<\/p>\n
\"We are keeping a close watch if North Korea will change its
\npolicy in the course of power transition, although I don't think
\nthere would be any big change in their policy,\" he told
\nparliament.<\/p>\n
He urged North Korea to \"come out and improve relations with
\nus.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, reports said North Korea planned to invite Carter
\nto the July 17 funeral as the only foreign guest, in an apparent
\nmove to again use the former U.S. president as intermediary.<\/p>\n
The South Korean national agency Yonhap quoted, without
\nfurther explanation, a North Korean source in Hong Kong as saying
\nthe invitation would be made \"in an effort to ease the
\ninternational atmosphere following Kim's death.\"<\/p>\n
Radio Pyongyang had earlier said no foreign dignitaries would
\nbe invited to the funeral.<\/p>\n
Officials here could not immediately confirm the report, but
\nCarter, in a trip to the north Korean capital of Pyongyang last
\nmonth, brokered the South-North Korean summit and the nuclear
\nfreeze.<\/p>",
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