South Korea seeks talks with North to defuse tension

South Korea seeks talks with North to defuse tension

SEOUL (Agencies): South Korea yesterday braced itself for
possible attacks by North Korea but said it would seek to defuse
rising tensions after a high-level Pyongyang official sought
asylum at Seoul's Beijing embassy.

North Korea, meanwhile, hinted yesterday it could accept the
defection of top official Hwang Jang-yop to the South, according
to an official Pyongyang report monitored in Tokyo.

But a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by the
Korean Central News Agency, warned of retaliation if it found the
74 year-old ideologue had been kidnapped.

"Our stand is simple and clear," the spokesman was quoted as
saying. "If he was kidnapped, we cannot tolerate and we will
take decisive countermeasures.

"If he sought asylum, it means that he is a renegade and he is
dismissed."

The spokesman added that North Korea had asked China to
investigate the matter.

Hwang, while returning from Tokyo to Pyongyang last Wednesday,
went to South Korea's embassy in Beijing with an aide and
requested asylum. He has since remained inside the embassy's
consular department under tight security.

Another prominent defector, Li Il-nam, a nephew of North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il's ex-wife, remained in a coma after
being critically wounded at the weekend by suspected North Korean
agents near Seoul.

Security around South Korea's ports, airports and other public
places has been beefed up and 10,000 police and soldiers searched
for the two suspected North Korean agents who shot Li.

Seoul Foreign Minister Yoo Chong-ha said problems stemming
from Hwang's defection were just the start of headaches for Seoul
because of a crisis in the North.

"I believe the North Korean regime's crisis will deepen as
time passes because there's no likelihood of improvement in its
economic hardship and food shortages, and signs of laxity in its
social order," Yoo told a meeting of South Korean diplomats.

South Korea's security-related ministers on Sunday agreed that
a desperate North Korea could resort to guerrilla attacks after
Hwang, a top adviser to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, sought
asylum last Wednesday.

Dour warnings from North Korean officials in Beijing of the
consequences of any attempt to move Hwang to the South gave a
hint of Pyongyang's willingness to retaliate.

"If they make him go to Seoul, I think there will be war,"
said one North Korean official who declined to be identified.

"We want him back," he said, in an echo of earlier threats to
use force if Hwang was compelled to go to Seoul.

South Korean diplomats and Chinese police guarding the mission
brought in extra blankets and mattresses in a sign they expected
a lengthy stand-off over Hwang.

However, dozens of North Korean officials disappeared
yesterday afternoon from outside the building where they have
kept a round-the-clock vigil since Hwang turned up in a taxi with
an aide last Wednesday.

Editorial -- Page 4