Two Koreas hold first meeting in 1 year

"I hope that today`s meeting will become a welcome rain for the dried-up South-North relationship." (Lee Sang-min, chief delegate from South Korea)

"That is a good thing to say. Seeing that our talks proceed well, I expect that today`s meeting will be relatively promising." (Pak Chol Su, chief delegate from North Korea)

Officials from the two Koreas met Thursday at the countries` joint industrial park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong for the sixth round of talks on the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Lee Sang-min, a Unification Ministry official who represents the South in a joint committee for the industrial complex, talked with his North Korean counterpart, Pak Chol Su, a vice director of North Korea`s special economic zone development department. The meeting was this year`s first inter-Korean dialogue, showing how much their relationship had been deadlocked.

The meeting atmosphere was friendly. The North Korean representative first asked his South Korean counterpart about Seoul`s weather, noting that there was a heavy rain in Pyongyang after a long drought. Pak`s mention of the weather led to mutual words of blessing for the inter-Korean relations.

After the South Korean chief delegate compared the rare talks to a "welcome rain," the North Korean official echoed the view, expressing hope that the talks would become an opportunity to "produce good results like a welcome rain" for the Korean nation. When Lee said he hoped that talks would provide a chance to put the Kaesong Industrial Complex back on track, Pak noted he had expectations that the meeting would be "promising."

zeitung@donga.com