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S. Korea anticipates DPRK's response to follow-up dialogue offer

Xinhua, December 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea's Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said Monday that it is anticipating the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s positive response to its expected dialogue offer, though it has no detailed plan yet for such dialogue proposal.

Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told a regular press briefing that "there is nothing being reviewed as of now" about whether to make a proposal to the DPRK for the next round of inter-governmental talks "as the talks just ended the day before yesterday."

South Korea and the DPRK held vice ministers' talks in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong from Friday to Saturday, ending up without any agreement.

The spokesman said that South Korea "is anticipating (the DPRK's) positive response to follow-up dialogue offer," indicating Seoul's future proposal sometime next year though not in the near term.

Jeong reiterated Seoul's stance that it will build foundations for peaceful reunification through open-minded talks with the DPRK while improving inter-Korean relations.

During the two-day talks, South Korea called on the DPRK to discuss the reunion of Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, while proposing to hold a separate working-level dialogue to discuss the resumption of tour to the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang.

Jeong cited the DPRK's consistent adherence to resumption of the tourism project as the reason for failure of the dialogue. Seoul has claimed that the humanitarian event of family reunion and the tourism project resumption cannot be linked together.

The tour, launched 1998, was halted in July 2008 when a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a DPRK solider after allegedly venturing into an off-limits area.

The DPRK on Saturday blamed Seoul for the breakdown of the vice ministerial level talks. The official KCNA news agency said that the DPRK side has "made every possible sincere effort" and offered "constructive proposals" to tackle some of the most urgent and realizable issues.

The South Korean side, however, rejected discussion of several core issues including the resumption of the Mount Kumgang tour and made unreasonable assertions, which caused the talks to bear no fruits, the state media said. Enditem