KOREAS MOVE CLOSER TO NEGOTIATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T02051R000200350086-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: August 10, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP05TO2051 R000200350086-7
WASHINGTON POST
NEW YORK TIMES_
WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON TIMES
STAT
The flurry of overtures is raising
public expectations at a time when
President Roh is facing pressure to im-
prove relations with the North. Stu-
dents have already begun skirmishing
with riot policemen, who have pledged
to block their plans for a student meet-
ing with North Korea to be held at Pan.
munjom next Monday. The police
blocked a similar meeting on June 10.
Slow Process Shows Deep Distrust
But the slow exchange of proposals
and counterproposals, each containing
slight but important shifts in position,
indicates the depth of ? distrust that
separates the two countries.
Korea was divided at the end of
World War 11. Families on opposite
sides of the Demilitarized Zone may
not visit or send mail to each other.
Koreas Move Closer to Negotiations
By SUSAN CHIRA
Special to The New York rlme%
SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 9 - The
two Koreas inched closer today toward
their first talks in nearly three years
when North Korea proposed a prelimi-
nary meeting next week at the truce
village of Panmunjom.
The North's offer was the latest in a
series of proposals and counterpropos-
als from both sides aimed at easing
tension. Ruling and opposition party
leaders in Seoul said they had no im-
mediate response, although they said
they hoped to reply by the end of the
week.
After the South Korean President,
Roh Tae Woo, made new overtures to
the North in a speech on July 7, North
Korea proposed on July 21 that the two
parliaments meet to discuss a nonag-
gression pact. On Aug. 1, South Korea
called for a preliminary meeting to dis-
cuss a possible agenda for joint parlia-
mentary talks.
Aug. 17 Is Proposed Date
Today's North Korean proposal, de-
livered like the others through liaison
officers at Panmunjom, agreed to a
preliminary meeting and set Aug. 17 as
a possible date. But North Korea con-
tinued to push for the parliamentary
talks, suggesting a ' five-day session
beginning Aug. 26 to discuss a nonag-
gression pact and North Korea's de-
mand to serve as co-host of the Olym-
pic Games. The Games are scheduled
to start in Seoul Sept. 17, and the Inter-
national Olympic Committee has ruled
out previous North Korean proposals to
be a co-host.
While some South Korean opposition
leaders expressed hopes that talks be-
tween the two sides could start soon,
ruling party politicians said ambigui-
ties in the North's latest offer might
pose problems for future discussions.
In previous letters, the North had
called for full parliamentary talks, but
now appeared to be broadening the
talks to include representatives of sev-
eral, unspecified sectors of society.
According to an excerpt of the North
Korean letter made public by the South
Korean Government today, the North
said, "If the proposed South-North par-
liamentary talks were only for a lim-
ited number of delegates and excluded
delegates of political parties and social
organizations and individuals from
various circles, it could not be recog-
nized as a proper conference befitting
reality."
Kim Dae Jung Optimistic
Kim Dae Jung, president of the
Peace and Democracy Party, the larg-
est single opposition group, said today,
"I believe the meeting on Aug. 17 will
take place," although h#.said he had to
consult with other political parties.
But Choi Chang Yoon, a senior ruling
party legislator, said the South would
have to study the apparent shift In the
North's position on parliamentary
talks. "We still have suspicions of the
real intentions of North Korea," he
said.
DATE AVC,
Earlier talks on such exchanges and on
broadening economic relations have
repeatedly broken down, North Korea
formally broke off the latest such talks
in early 1986.
South Korean academics, Govern-
ment officials and politicians have all
pointed to East and West Germany as a
possible example for the two Koreas.
But they as well as other longtime
Korea-watchers cautioned against ex-
cessive optimism.
"Talking is better than not talking,"
said one Western diplomat here. "But I
do think that the genesis of all this
being born in such profound distrust
means that there is still a lot of slow,
patient work ahead."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP05TO2051 R000200350086-7