South Korea fails to sway North on trains at talks

By Lee Jae-won

SOGWIPO, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea failed to
persuade North Korea to hold the first run of trains in 55
years over their heavily fortified border in economic talks
that ended on Tuesday.

The four-day meeting came amid strains between the two
Koreas after Pyongyang abruptly called off test runs of trains,
which had been due to take place on May 25. In an exchange of
harsh words, each side had blamed the other for scuttling the
plan.

The South’s Unification Ministry said in a statement after
the talks between economic officials that some progress had
been made on the rail links, but Seoul had not been able to
persuade the North Koreans to go ahead with the trial runs.

“We expressed strong regret over the postponed test runs of
rails because of the North’s unilateral call, and urged them to
start the test runs of rails and open rail links and roads as
soon as possible,” the ministry said.

The rail crossings would have been a deeply symbolic step
in generally warming ties between the two Koreas. The last
train ran across the border in 1951 during the Korean War,
carrying wounded soldiers and refugees to the South.

Tracks extend across the border in two places. South Korea
has provided the bulk of the capital to restore the rail links.

At the talks in the South Korean resort island of Cheju,
the two sides reached a nine-point agreement that mostly
glossed over differences on the rail links and North Korea’s
refusal to return to stalled six-country talks on its nuclear
weapons programs.

They agreed that South Korea would provide $80 million in
raw materials for North Korean light industries such as
clothing, shoes and soap from 2006 in return for securing
rights to develop and sell the North’s underground resources.

“South and North Korea will adopt an agreement to cooperate
in developing light industries and underground resources, which
will be taken effect upon conditions maturing,” a joint
statement said.

A South Korean official told reporters that Seoul saw the
phrase “upon conditions maturing” as meaning a time after the
rail tests take place. However, the direct link between the aid
and the rail tests was not spelled out in the joint statement.

The two sides said they had also agreed on several rounds
of inter-Korean cooperation talks in the near future.

South and North Korea remain technically at war because the
1953 truce that halted the conflict never gave way to a full
peace treaty. Military tension remains high despite warming
commercial and political ties in recent years.

The talks came just after South Korean President Roh
Moo-hyun’s ruling Uri Party suffered a stinging setback in
local elections. Since the election, Roh’s support rating has
plunged to a record low of about 20 percent, a recent poll
showed.

Roh had been criticized by the main opposition Grand
National Party for providing too much unconditional aid to
North Korea and not being able to win concessions from
Pyongyang.

The last round of the six-country nuclear talks among the
two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States was held
in November. North Korea has refused to return, saying it will
not be forced back to the table by U.S. pressure.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Kim Yeon-hee in
Seoul)