[imText1]Hyun In Taek, South Korea’s Minister of Unification, told a conference this afternoon, “The government is confronting a repeated North Korean pattern; charm offensive after provocation, and provocation after charm offensive.”
In a conference held by the Ministry of Unification to mark the launch of policy research aimed at establishing the basis of an inter-Korean community that can lead to reunification based on peace, the economy and the nation, Hyun stated, “I think it is so very regretful that North Korea won’t acknowledge its responsibility for causing our people enormous damage at the same time as suggesting dialogue. The government cannot read any sincerity into this North Korean attitude.”
To the question of whether requesting that the North take responsible measures and state that there will be no further provocations would mean a step back from the South’s May 24th Measures, Hyun replied, “The expression ‘responsible measures’ includes all contents,” adding, “The May 24th Measures are still valid and will continue.”
With respect to the suggestion that the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island incidents and/or denuclearization be separated from talks about humanitarian issues such as would be talked about in a Red Cross forum, Hyun declared, “The Ministry has no intention of dividing them in two.”
Finally, regarding possible discussions about denuclearization between the authorities of the two Koreas, he predicted, “That would be a place to confirm the North’s sincerity about denuclearization,” and added, “We can discuss North Korea’s detailed activities in the Six-Party Talks, yet we still need one step to confirm North’s sincerity on denuclearization in inter-Korean dialogue.”
