Phone link reopens between Koreas
Source: Agencies |
January 13, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
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THE two Koreas restored an important cross-border communication channel yesterday, though South Korea still rejected North Korea's calls for talks meant to defuse high tensions.
North Korea cut off the Red Cross communication line at the border village of Panmunjom last year when tension spiked over the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang. Relations between the Koreas further soured after a North Korean artillery attack that killed four South Koreans on a front-line island in November.
Pyongyang, however, has proposed resuming talks with South Korea. It also made conciliatory gestures on Monday, offering to restore the Red Cross line and allowing South Korean officials back into a joint factory park in North Korea.
Seoul has so far rebuffed the dialogue offer as a ploy for aid, saying its neighbor must demonstrate responsibility for the attacks and take steps toward nuclear disarmament before talks can be held. North Korea has denied involvement in the ship sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
South Korea, however, decided to let telecommunication workers from the two Koreas restore the Red Cross line, which is used for exchanging messages on humanitarian issues such as reunions of separated families, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
Shortly after the line was restored, South Korea sent a message saying, "The communication channel should never be unilaterally cut off," ministry officials said.
South Korea has no immediate plans to send officials back to a joint economic office of the industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong unless Pyongyang promises to guarantee their safety and promises not to expel them in the future, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.
North Korea kicked them out after South Korea slashed inter-Korean trade over the warship's sinking.
Later yesterday, North Korea sent messages expressing regret over South Korea's decision not to send officials to the joint office in Kaesong. However, it proposed holding talks on the complex and a suspended joint tourism project - both in the border city - early next month, the Unification Ministry said in a statement.
Before November's artillery barrage, Pyongyang also pushed for a resumption of tours to its scenic Diamond Mountain resort. The tours were a rare legitimate source of hard currency for the -country. South Korea stopped the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist near the resort.
The Unification Ministry again dismissed the offer.
North Korea cut off the Red Cross communication line at the border village of Panmunjom last year when tension spiked over the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang. Relations between the Koreas further soured after a North Korean artillery attack that killed four South Koreans on a front-line island in November.
Pyongyang, however, has proposed resuming talks with South Korea. It also made conciliatory gestures on Monday, offering to restore the Red Cross line and allowing South Korean officials back into a joint factory park in North Korea.
Seoul has so far rebuffed the dialogue offer as a ploy for aid, saying its neighbor must demonstrate responsibility for the attacks and take steps toward nuclear disarmament before talks can be held. North Korea has denied involvement in the ship sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
South Korea, however, decided to let telecommunication workers from the two Koreas restore the Red Cross line, which is used for exchanging messages on humanitarian issues such as reunions of separated families, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
Shortly after the line was restored, South Korea sent a message saying, "The communication channel should never be unilaterally cut off," ministry officials said.
South Korea has no immediate plans to send officials back to a joint economic office of the industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong unless Pyongyang promises to guarantee their safety and promises not to expel them in the future, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.
North Korea kicked them out after South Korea slashed inter-Korean trade over the warship's sinking.
Later yesterday, North Korea sent messages expressing regret over South Korea's decision not to send officials to the joint office in Kaesong. However, it proposed holding talks on the complex and a suspended joint tourism project - both in the border city - early next month, the Unification Ministry said in a statement.
Before November's artillery barrage, Pyongyang also pushed for a resumption of tours to its scenic Diamond Mountain resort. The tours were a rare legitimate source of hard currency for the -country. South Korea stopped the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist near the resort.
The Unification Ministry again dismissed the offer.
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