Gov`t official: Seoul not to let strained inter-Korean ties continue

Inter-Korean relations have had their ups and downs but will not remain at a standstill, said a senior South Korean government official, suggesting Seoul will not let frozen bilateral relations continue.

In a news conference at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the Demilitarized Zone Friday, the official said, “The North’s leaking of information on secret inter-Korean talks was an unprecedented act that should never have happened.

“Just a month since the leak, the scars have yet to heal,” the official said. “But the incident hasn`t put South-North relations at a standstill. The door to dialogue remains open. The current freeze in inter-Korean relations won`t perpetually remain as they are now.”

“Dialogue doesn`t always occur even if one side wishes for it because there`s always the other side. Inter-Korean relations are showing relatively high volatility, and it`s not easy to predict how this volatility will materialize in which direction.”

On if an inter-Korean summit will happen within the remaining term of the Lee Myung-bak administration of South Korea, which ends in February 2013, the official said, “You cannot build a house on a wild plain. A favorable environment should be created and matured. The environment is not ripe for dialogue yet.”

lightee@donga.com