2014/10/13 22:04
(ATTN: ADDS last 8 paras on proposals made by blue-ribbon committee)
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- President Park Geun-hye said Monday that South Korea's door will remain open for dialogue with North Korea, though she warned of a stern response to Pyongyang's provocations.
The comments underscored her commitment to easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue, despite last week's exchange of fire between the two sides across the tense border.
'The two Koreas must continue dialogue to reduce tensions and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula,' Park said in a meeting of a blue-ribbon committee meant to make preparations for potential unification with North Korea.
The comments came amid fresh tensions over the North's latest military actions against South Korea following a recent surprise visit to South Korea by a high-powered North Korean delegation.
The North Korean delegation produced a deal with South Korea to hold a second round of high-level dialogue later this month or in early November, a move that raised hopes for a thaw in inter-Korean relations.
Still, hopes were quickly dampened by the latest exchange of fire between South and North Korean navy patrol boats near their tense western sea border last week.
The sea border has been the site of several bloody skirmishes between the navies of the two countries, which are still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an uneasy ceasefire, not in a peace treaty.
The two Koreas also exchanged machine-gun fire across the tense border Friday, after the North apparently tried to shoot down balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets critical of the North.
North Korea has reacted sensitively to leaflets that South Korean activists and North Korean defectors regularly send to North Korea to eventually encourage North Koreans to rise up against their leader, Kim Jong-un.
Still, South Korea said there are no legal grounds to prevent its activists from floating the leaflets, citing freedom of expression.
Last week, North Korea's propaganda media lashed out at the latest leafleting campaign, saying the incident 'could cause the planned high-level talks to fall through.' Still, Park indicated a strong desire for the talks.
'We should use the high-level contact as an opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations,' Park said in the meeting.
In February, the two Koreas held their first high-level talks in seven years, though no major progress has since been made mainly due to tensions over a series of missile and rocket launches by North Korea.
She also said the two Koreas should hold sincere dialogue to resolve the standoff over Seoul's sanctions against the North.
North Korea has repeatedly called for the lifting of the sanctions Seoul imposed on Pyongyang in May 2010 in retaliation of the deadly sinking of a warship.
Seoul wants Pyongyang, among other things, to admit its involvement in the sinking that killed 46 South Korean sailors in March 2010 before lifting the sanctions. A South Korea-led international investigation found that North Korea torpedoed the vessel, although Pyongyang has denied responsibility.
Also Monday, Park called on officials to come up with an action plan for her initiative to build a peace park in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.
Last month, she called for the U.N. to take the lead in creating a peace park in her address to the U.N. General Assembly.
South Korea hopes that a proposed peace park could promote cooperation and build trust between the two Koreas.
The project to build a peace park requires cooperation from North Korea, as well as the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice.
Still, the North has publicly rejected the project.
The presidential unification preparation committee, meanwhile, outlined plans to build 1 million houses and further develop mines in the communist country as well as economic integration and creating a 'unification charter' that can outline how a unified Korea will look and issues that need to be resolved for such a development to take place.
It said a three-stage approach to building trust can eventually lead to economic integration.
The committee added that Seoul can take small steps to improve the everyday livelihoods of people such as helping set up running water and sewage systems, while building up to a million new homes with South Korean capital and North Korean labor can be explored. This project may require up to 9 trillion won (US$8.42 billion) worth of investment.
It said that plans can be pursued so the railroad linking Pyongyang with Rajin can be expanded for trains to link up with the Trans-Siberian Railway. Such a rail connection, estimated to cost some 1 trillion won, could help the North Korean economy grow 2 percentage points.
The blue-ribbon group then said Seoul can help modernize the Musan mining complex and help with various special economic zones along North Korea's border regions facing China and Russia.
On the unification charter, the committee said it can include the responsibility of the government and outline principles that must be followed to achieve unification.
Sources at the presidential office said it wants to hold an international event next year to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
The committee said the goal is to invite U.S. President Barack Obama, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Nobel Laureates from all over the world so they can be present for the Seoul Global Peace Declaration.
entropy@yna.co.kr
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