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North-South Korea to meet amid nuclear stalemate

Posted on: Thursday, 20 April 2006, 03:41 CDT

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)

Source: REUTERS

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