South Korea will be patient in seeking sustainable improvement in inter-Korean ties, dealing with North Korea’s unpredictable attitude, Seoul’s point man on Pyongyang said Wednesday.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said his government will continue efforts to put the shaky relations on the path of sustainable development from a long-term prospective.
“I think it’s more important to lay the foundation for the South and the North to move forward together with stability and normality, rather than ostensibly taking a few steps forward at once,” he said in a speech to mark the opening of the Soongsil University’s unification institute in Moongyeong, 153 miles southeast of Seoul.
Ryoo was responding to growing concerns over the inter-Korean relations with the two sides locked in a war of nerves over the spread of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by some activists here.
The North reneged on the Oct. 4 agreement to open high-level talks between late October and early November.
South Korean officials acknowledged that chances are slim that dialogue with the North will resume within this year.
Earlier Wednesday, a coalition of more than 20 South Korean civic groups called on the South’s government Wednesday not to give up efforts to restart talks.
In a rally at Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul, they issued a statement demanding the government make another offer for high-level talks.
“We appeal to the government to take active measures to improve South-North relations,” it read.
The participating groups included Buddhist leaders and businessmen involved in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.
They urged the government to take steps against the scattering of leaflets critical of the communist nation’s leaders and system, claiming it is escalating military tensions on the peninsula.
The South’s authorities maintain that they have no legal cause for controlling the leaflet campaign in line with the freedom of speech. (Yonhap)
