N. Korea makes latest offer for inter-Korean dialogue

North Korea has proposed holding inter-Korean dialogue through a succession of statements in the New Year, sending South Korea scrambling to prepare a response.

Countries neighboring the Korean Peninsula seem to have the consensus that inter-Korean relations need to improve to allow the resumption of the six-way nuclear talks. So Seoul can hardly afford to continue disregarding Pyongyang’s preemptive offers of dialogue.

In a statement Saturday, the North`s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said, "We officially propose an unconditional and early opening of talks between authorities of the North and the South."

The committee is the North’s official agency in charge of inter-Korean relations under its unification ministry.

The committee proposed meetings to discuss Red Cross talks and the resumption of South Korean tours to Mount Kumgang and the Kaesong industrial complex from late January to early February.

“The level, venue and schedule of the talks could be determined through mutual consultations,” it said, adding, “The delegations could be the same as the previous one or be newly formed.”

“The closed North-South Red Cross passage via the truce village of Panmunjom will be reopened and the closing of the Consultative Office for North-South Economic Cooperation at the Kaesong industrial complex will be lifted.”

So chances are high that the telephone hotline between South and North Korean authorities at Panmunjom, which was shut down in May last year after the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan by the North, could be reopened as early as Monday. The North could also send a telephone message on an official offer to hold bilateral talks.

In Seoul, the Unification Ministry is taking a cautious stance toward the North’s offer though calling the committee’s latest statement more detailed and as having a more positive tone than the joint statement by the North’s government, political party and organizations Wednesday that urged “unconditional dialogue.”

A ministry source downplayed the offer, saying, “The committee’s statement is an extension of the joint statement, and in light of the statement’s format, the offer cannot be considered a sincere proposal,” but added, “Since the new statement contains more details, we will consider whom to respond to by examining Pyongyang’s attitude.”

kyle@donga.com srkim@donga.com