Kim Yang Gun, Director of the United Front Department of Chosun (North Korea) Workers’ Party, visited Seoul on the 29.
The Minister of Unification Lee Jae Jung held an urgent briefing on the 28th at the Inter-Korea Summit Headquarters in Seoul. He expressed, “We have invited Director Kim Yang Gun with the purpose of site visits related to the Inter-Korea Joint Project and for evaluating the implementation progress of the Inter-Korea Summit Agreement and agreeing on an immediate future direction.”
Minister Lee said, “Kim Man Bok, the chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and I have requested Director Kim’s visit to Seoul to summarize inter-Korea relations during the period of Inter-Korea Summit Talks and Inter-Korea Prime Ministerial Talks.”
Minister Lee also stated, “Through the Inter-Korea Summit, North-South Korean relations has entered a new stage through a significant process. This follows the evaluation that U.S.-North Korea relations is entering an active stage.”
Further, he said, “As a person in charge of operating all the essues related to North-South relations in the North, visiting our side was evaluated as desirable on many levels.
However, in regards to Kim Yang Gun’s Seoul visit, for carrying out the Summit Agreement, Director Kim and his delegation visited related facilities such as shipbuilding yards, but the Director of the United Front who has no expertise in related projects is not comprehensible.
Further, with the South Korean elections being not too far off, the suspicion has been proposed that the Director of the United Front Department, the North’s person-in-charge of collecting South Korean intelligence, publicly visiting Seoul seems to be an attempt to cast an influence on the Presidential elections.
Yoo Ho Yul, a Professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University, commented, “To the extent that North Korea has a significant interest in the South Korean presidential elections, the Director could be trying to observe the South Korean actual mood of the elections. He will not be able to meet each party candidate, but can meet affiliates of the parties.”
He also analyzed, “At the last Summit, the heads agreed to meet anytime, this can be preparation for the visit of Kim Young Nam, who is the Supreme People’s Committee’s Permanent Chairperson.”
Simultaneously, at the North-South Defense Ministerial Talks which has been taking place in Pyongyang since the 27th, Kim Il Cheol, the Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, revealed the position, “’The declaration of an end to the war’ revealed by the North-South leaders requires efforts from the military authorities.” It has been analyzed that he has brought Kim Jong Il’s message in regards to the pursuit of the “declaration of an end to the war.”
Director Kim, along with Kim Man Bok, the chief of the National Intelligence Service in South Korea, was widely known in the South for their role in realizing the Inter-Korea Summit Talks last July. The Kim Jong Il’s intimate confidence in Director Kim was also confirmed by singlehandedly sitting besides Kim Jong Il at the Summit in last July.
This is the second visit to the South after Kim Yong Soon, the Chief of North Korea’s United Front Department and the Secretary on South Korean issues of the Workers’ Party, visited Jeju in September, 2000, immediately after the “June 5 Joint Declaration.”
