HOPE SEEN FOR TALKS BETWEEN THE KOREAS, THOUGH NOT RAPIDLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T02051R000200350029-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: July 25, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 :CIA-RDP05T02051 8000200350029-0
IJASFiINGTON POST
NE4J YORK TIMES
WALL STREET JOURNAL ~~'
WASHINGTON TIMES
USA TODAY
Hope Seen for Talks
Between the Koreas,
Though Not Rapidly
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuter) -Over-
tures by parliamentarians may be inching
the two Koreas toward a renewed political
dialogue, bur analysts caution against
hopes of rapid progress.
Leaders of South Korea's main patsies'
agreed Friday to accept a North Korean
p oposal for talks aimed at reducing tem
sions on the divided peninsula, promising a
formal answer in the next few days.
The news sparked the biggest stock
market rise in Seoul this year, but diplo-
matic and political analysts reserved judg?
ment.
"Even if both sides are sincere about
holding talks, it will still at best take a lot
of time and effort," one Seoul?based diplo?
mat said. "I don't expect anything con-
crete until after the Seoul Olympics,"
scheduled to end Oct. 2.
The. opposition?controlled National As?
sembly had just received a response of
sorts to a July 1 letter urging North Korea
to abandon its boycott and send athletes to
the Games, which are to open Sept. 1T.
This was to be a first step toward eventual
national. reconciliation.
The North Korean message, given
Thursday at the border village of Panmun?
jom, sidestepped the Olympics invitation.
Instead, it called for parliamentarians
from both sides to meet before the Games
and discuss a nonaggression pact.
In the oblique world of inter?Korean re-
lations, this didn't seem to faze Seoul at
all.
While various party leaders gave a
qualified welcome to the offer, the govern-
ment, following up President Roh Tae
Woo's July T offer of better relations with
Pyongyang, let it be known it favored re-
opening dialogue.
'"It is up to the National Assembly to
. decide, but we think it is desirable to act
positively and accept the proposal in view
of the international conditions," Uniflca-
tlon Minister Lee Hong Koo told parlia-
ment.
Mr. Lee expressed reservations on only
one item in Pyongyang's seven?point draft
nonaggression pact.
~'~ie said careful study must be given to
DATE
a section calling for "phased and drastic
reduction of armed forces" on both sides,
and simultaneous measures to arrange the
"stage-bystage withdrawal of foreign
forces and nuclear weapons present in the
"Korean peninsula."
About 41,000 U.S. soldiers are based in
South Korea under a defense treaty. Both
Washington and' Seoul decline to confirm
or deny whether nuclear- arms are de?
ployed in South Korea.
If political talks were to resume, the
contacts would be the first between the two
sides since late 1985. North Korea banned
further parliamentary, trade and Red
Cross discussions the following year, to
protest joint maneuvers staged by U.S. and
South Korean forces.
Diplomatic and political analysts said
North Korea's apparent wUJingness to en?
gage in dialogue stemmed tmm its need to.
save face following Mr. Roh's offer to end
decades of confrontation and open the bor?
der to human exchanges.
"North Korea really is unsure what to
make of the Roh initiative, which caught it
rather off balance," one Pacific Rim dlplo-
mat said. "Despite its initial rejection,
there is an element of uncertainty."
Pyongyang couldn't legitimize the Seoul
government by dealing directly with it, he '
added. But dealing with an opposition-con?
trolled legislature-Mr. Roh's party lost its
majority fn the April elections-made con?
facts thinkable.
Though the Seoul party leaders signaled
? basic acceptance of parliamentary talks,
notes of caution were quickly sounded in
". official circles here.
The Yonhap news agency quoted a se?
nior government official, as saying Seoul
would seek preliminary discussions, rather
than an immediate parliamentary confer-
ence, to decide procedural matters.
The unidentified official said Pyong?
yang also had sent a letter to the U.S. Con?
gress, adding that he believed North Korea
could be trying to revive its old idea of a
tripartite conference, Including the U.S.,
on the peninsula's future.
North Korea wants to negotiate directly
with Washington on the pullout of U.S.
forces and weaponry from South Korea,
while Seoul insists it alone will talk to
Pyongyang.
The tone of its letter, dispatched Thurs-
day, suggested that North Korea, with its
hopes of co-hosting the Olympics dashed,
now was determined not to attend the
event in Seoul.
The Games' chief organizer, Park Seh
Jik, told foreign reporters Friday that even
at this late hour, Seoul hoped Pyongyang
would respond to its invitation and send
athletes to the Games.
STAT
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