North-South Korea to meet amid nuclear stalemate

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) – North and South Korea will hold talks
starting on Friday when Seoul will prod Pyongyang to return to
multilateral negotiations on its nuclear program and to provide
information on its citizens held in the North.

The talks come as the leaders of China and the United
States meet in Washington and U.S. officials have said one item
likely to be on the agenda there will be making progress in the
six-party talks.

China is North Korea’s main benefactor and last remaining
key ally.

The participants in the nuclear talks — the two Koreas,
the United States, China, Japan and Russia — agreed in
principle in September that Pyongyang would dismantle its
nuclear programs in exchange for aid and improved diplomatic
ties.

But the last session in November ended without progress.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, who will
lead the South’s delegation to the four days of talks in
Pyongyang, said this week Seoul was considering a major package
of aid in a bid to resolve the issue of the more than 1,000
South Koreans suspected of being held against their will in the
North.

South Korea has tried to use quiet diplomacy to gather
information about South Korean civilian abductees and prisoners
captured during the 1950-1953 Korean War who are still thought
to be alive in the North.

South Korea faced an embarrassing situation earlier this
month when Japan released results of DNA tests about one of its
citizens abducted by North Korea, which turned up information
about a South Korean abducted by the North almost 30 years ago.

“It is a moment of shame for South Korea that the Japanese
government had to do what would have been our government’s job:
confirm the fate of one of our own who was abducted by North
Korea,” the daily Chosun Ilbo wrote in an editorial.

In previous meetings, South Korea has tried to use language
that would not be offensive to the North by describing the
abductees “as people who went missing.” North Korea has said it
is not holding South Koreans against their will.

North Korea analyst Dong Young-seng, a vice president at
Trinity Capital Development in Seoul, said a breakthrough was
not likely, but an incremental development would be
significant.

The Washington Post reported President Bush was likely to
raise the issue with Chinese President Hu Jintao of a North
Korean refugee in China who apparently sought asylum but was
sent back to North Korea.

Some human rights groups estimate there are hundreds of
thousands of North Koreans who have crossed into China seeking
passage and refuge to South Korea. Washington and others have
charged Pyongyang with committing massive human rights abuses.

(With additional reporting by Lee Jin-joo and Jack Kim)