Direct North-South talks resume, humanitarian aid on its way to the border
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Officials from the two Koreas are preparing a future round of talks aimed at inter-Korean trade and humanitarian aid, this a day after the Beijing summit spelled the end to the North's nuclear programme.
Seoul's delegation, led by assistant unification minister Lee Kwan-Se, left this morning for Kaesŏng, home to North Korea’s joint industrial zone.
"We hope to make substantive progress not only in a solution to the North's nuclear weapons programme, but also in the government's policy of peace and prosperity by resuming the cabinet-level talks," Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung told the team before it left.
The ministerial talks, the highest-level regular dialogue channel, were suspended last July after North Korea's missile tests sparked international alarm.
Seoul also halted a shipment of 100,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 500,000 tonnes of rice.
The resumption of food and fertiliser aid will be again on the agenda when ministerial talks reopen, South Korean presidential security adviser Yun Byung-Se said. When inter-Korean relations are restored, “we can discuss issues that are on hold now," he added.
North Korea’s government has not yet made any public announcement on the matter, but AsiaNews sources in Korea said that the first aid shipment is already on its way towards the border. And a delegation of foreign NGOs, which were told to leave last year, is said to be already in North Korea.
Meanwhile Pyongyang and Washington have resumed talks over North Korea’s bank accounts in Macau. A crackdown on Kim Jong-il’s “piggybank” was one of the reasons for North Korea to pull out of the six-nation talks.
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12/02/2016 15:14
16/05/2005
