North and South Fail to Agree On Six-Party Talks, Fertilizer Aid, and Ministerial-Level Meeting

On May 17, the second day of the inter-Korean vice-ministerial meeting in the North Korean district of Gaesong, South and North Korea agreed that the South Korean delegation would participate in a celebration for the fifth anniversary of the inter-Korean summit talks held in June 15, 2000. Overseas private groups from the two Korea’s are planning to hold the event next month in Pyongyang.

However, they failed to agree on the North’s return to the six-party talks, Seoul’s fertilizer aid to Pyongyang and the timing of another round of inter-Korean ministerial-level talks.

The delegations from the two Koreas were led by South Korean Unification Deputy Minister Rhee Bong-jo, and Kim Man Gil, a deputy director of the secretariat of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. They had a focused discussion over the above-mentioned issues in the second day of talks held in the Janamsan Hotel in Gaesong.

In the morning of that day, the South Korean delegation proposed that it would send a delegation led by a ministerial-level official to the June 15 celebration in Pyongyang. An official associated with the inter-Korean talks said, “Seoul believes that a delegation that will participate in the celebration should be led by a ministerial-level official, as the fifth anniversary of the June 15 declaration is very meaningful.”

If the North agrees, Chung Dong-young, South Korea’s unification minister, is expected to visit Pyongyang next month with other delegation members. However, as Pyongyang did not answer to the proposal, the two Koreas will have to hold another working meeting to finalize the level and makeup of the delegations.