New talks between Seoul and Pyongyang, while the North tests more missiles
Seoul (AsiaNews) - North Korea has accepted the proposal of more meetings, advanced by Seoul, to resume family reunification programs and prevent new floods of dams along the North Korean border. The summit should take place in the coming days; but the threat of more missile tests by the North hangs over the talks, an attempt - according to analysts - to gain a strong position at the negotiating table.
Yesterday, Pyongyang launched five surface-to-surface KN-02 rockets, two of them in the morning and three in the afternoon. The tests took place in the missile bases south of Musudanri in the province of North Hamgyeong, and north of Wosan in the province of Gangwon. The South Korean Yonhap news agency also reports a "ban on navigation" off the eastern and western coasts of North Korea, effective October 10 to 20; today Pyongyang is said to be preparing more launches short-range rockets.
At the centre of talks between Seoul and the North, along with a new calendar of meetings between Korean families separated by war, the question of the North’s dams, at the root of incidents and tensions with the South. On 6 September, a dam on the Imjin River, not far from the border, released - without warning - million of tons of water, overwhelming a group of South Korean people camped along the river: six victims. Pyongyang and Seoul should also discuss humanitarian aid that South has conditioned to the interruption of the North Korean nuclear and missile program.
Analysts and international policy experts point out that the new missile tests carried out by the North are a show of force to acquire more weight at the negotiating table. In recent days, AsiaNews sources in Korea have pointed out that "North Korea uses the nuclear bomb as a weapon of 'dialogue' with the international community" and the tests and military exercises "have served to draw the West’s attention" so that it will distributes "aid and economic incentives to help the financial situation".
After months of deadlock, recently the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said he was available for the resumption of six-party talks (U.S., North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan and China) on the nuclear issue while reaffirming his intention to begin face to face dialogue with Washington and strengthen bonds of cooperation and development with China, Pyongyang's ally.
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