NK Wants US Sanctions Lifted Before Resuming 6-way Talks

North Korea yesterday said U.S. sanctions on it must be lifted before Pyongyang can return to the six-way nuclear talks.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “If we return to the six-party talks with the sanctions left intact, the talks will not be a fair meeting as stated in the joint statement announced Sept. 19, 2005, but a meeting between a defendant and judge.”

“We’ll continue to make sincere efforts to persuade the other parties into accepting our practical suggestion, which is based on experience and lessons.”

The two Koreas today will begin two days of talks at the Kaesong industrial complex in the North on their joint inspections of industrial zones abroad and improving the complex.

Chun Hae-sung, spokesman for the Unification Ministry in Seoul, said, “North Korea’s National Economic Cooperation Alliance sent its written consent allowing South Korean officials to visit the North via the Gaeseong (Kaesong) Industrial Complex Management Committee.”

A nine-member South Korean inspection team and seven other people will go to the North today by land for the talks.

The North threatened Friday to start a retaliatory war against the South, so Pyongyang’s consent to hold the meeting is understood as part of its carrot-and-stick policy toward Seoul. Under the strategy, the North strongly responds to the South’s statements that it considers undermining its communist regime while seeking economic benefits via dialogue.

A Seoul official said, “North Korea will accept our aid offer of 10,000 tons of corn.”

The Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the ruling North Korean Workers’ Party, said, “The future of inter-Korean relations depends on South Korea’s attitude. The South should take the proper stance toward inter-Korean relations and make an all-out effort to improve them.”

It also indirectly urged Seoul to allow its civic organizations to help Pyongyang, saying, “If South Korea’s civic organizations are allowed to participate in improving inter-Korean relations, a series of complicated issues will be resolved.”

Pyongyang is also expected to urge Seoul to hold working-level talks Jan. 26-27 on resuming South Korean tours to Mount Kumgang and Kaesong.

kyle@donga.com