S. Korea changes stance on talks venue

S. Korea changes stance on talks venue

Paul Eckert, Reuters, Seoul

South Korea has reversed earlier opposition to North Korea's
proposed venue for inter-Korean ministerial talks and has agreed
to accept the North's Mount Kumgang resort as the site, an
official in Seoul said on Tuesday.

The talks were originally scheduled to be held from Oct. 28 to
31 in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, but were postponed
after North Korea abruptly insisted on a venue change for reasons
that remain unclear to Seoul.

"That is a fact," a Unification Ministry official said when
asked if it had changed its earlier insistence on meeting in
Pyongyang as the two Koreas agreed in September.

"After consulting with other ministries, probably at a meeting
of the National Security Council, we will make a proposal to the
North some time this week," the official said of Seoul's bid to
break a North-South deadlock.

Unification Minister Hong Soon-young would then send a message
later this week to North Korea recommending talks at the remote
mountain resort, the official said by telephone.

The Communist North derailed plans to hold a series of
exchanges this month when it called off visits of families
divided since the 1950-53 Korean War, saying South Korea's anti-
terrorism security alert had made the visits unsafe.

Seoul, host to 37,000 U.S. troops, had rejected Pyongyang's
reasoning as baseless and demanded North Korea adhere to the
originally agreed venue.

The U.S. State Department said last month -- even before the
Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon --
that U.S. military installations in South Korea and Japan could
be terrorism targets. That warning remains in force.

The South Korean government has come under criticism from the
political opposition and conservative media for making unilateral
concessions to North Korea. Government opponents say Pyongyang
has failed to reciprocate Seoul's goodwill and food aid.

The conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP)
attacked the government as "shady" for talking tough before a by-
election last week then caving in to the North this week.

GNP spokesman Kwon Chul-hyun urged Seoul to "rethink the
ministerial meeting unless it can ensure the speedy resumption of
family reunions and other postponed talks".

The two Koreas remain technically in a state of war since the
Korean conflict ended in an armed truce that has yet to be
replaced by a peace treaty.

Seoul's attempt to get Korean ties back on track comes as
North Korea continued a barrage of personal attacks on U.S.
President George W. Bush over remarks in which he called North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il secretive and suspicious.

On Tuesday, the North's official Rodong Shinmun took a swipe
at Bush and challenged the U.S. military presence in the South.

"It is our will and independent mode of counteraction to
respond to the U.S. hard line with a super hard line," the
official newspaper said.

While spurning a U.S. call to resume talks ruptured since
March, Pyongyang said on Monday it sought to improve relations
with Washington, Seoul's staunch ally since North Korea invaded
the South in 1950 to ignite the Korean War.

"It is good, not bad, to improve the DPRK-U.S. relations,"
said a Rodong Shinmun commentary, using the acronym for the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

In Beijing on Monday, European Union diplomats told reporters
after an Oct. 27-30 visit to North Korea that Pyongyang officials
showed strong interest in improving ties with Washington and
Seoul.

"They repeated this several times that they are really keen to
resume contacts with the South Koreans and with the United
States," said Patrick van Haute, director of the Asia department
of the Belgian Foreign Ministry.

In what could be a significant move, North Korea sent a three-
member delegation to attend a three-day meeting of the Council
for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), which
opened in Washington on Monday.