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Lee Myung-bak - Source: Reuters -
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South Korean envoys arrived in North Korea for rare talks
between the political rivals that come as global powers try to
prevent reclusive Pyongyang from restarting its nuclear arms
plant.
South Korean officials have released few details on the talks,
which North Korea requested, over a jointly operated factory park
just north of the border.
They are seeking the release of a South Korean worker detained at
the park for nearly a month for allegedly making derogatory
comments about Pyongyang's leaders.
Also at stake may be the future operations of the Kaesong
Industrial Park where South Korean firms use cheap North Korean
labour and land to make goods, and the cash-strapped North receives
a steady flow of foreign currency in return.
North Korea, angered by the decision of President Lee Myung-bak
after he took office a year ago to cut a steady flow of aid to his
impoverished neighbour, has disrupted work at the park at times to
put pressure on Seoul to drop its hard line.
Despite the North's moves, the number of firms at Kaesong continues
to grow due to its low costs and was at 93 at the end of February,
employing nearly 39,000 North Korean workers.
The South's nine-member economic delegation had yet to sit down
with the North Koreans for at least six hours after arriving
because the two sides could not decide on where to hold the talks
or the format of the discussions, a South Korea Unification
Ministry spokeswoman told reporters.
If the North tries to do anything other than warn, fine or expel
the South Korean worker, the South will make a strong response,
spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said, declining to elaborate.
Shut the park?
Yun Duk-min, an expert on North Korea at the South's Institute of
Foreign Affairs and National Security, said the unpredictable North
is looking to call the shots at the meeting.
"South Korea accepted the talks on the slight hope of winning the
release of the worker. North Korea could abruptly drop a bomb and
say it wants to shut down the Kaesong Park," Yun said.
North Korea has all but suspended dialogue with Lee's government
and dubbed him a traitor to the Korean nation for tying aid, which
has helped prop up the North's wobbly economy, to progress
Pyongyang makes in giving up nuclear arms.
But the North may now be even more dependent on the money generated
by the Kaesong Park because the United Nations has called for
tightened sanctions on Pyongyang after its defiant rocket launch
earlier this month, widely seen as a disguised long-range missile
test that violated UN resolutions.
In response, Pyongyang said it would boycott six-party nuclear
disarmament talks, restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium
that was being dismantled under a deal reached at those
discussions, and threatened war with the South if it joined a US
initiative to halt the proliferation of illicit weapons.
Some analysts said North Korea may threaten to shut down the
Kaesong Park if South Korea joins the Proliferation Security
Initiative because it could harm the North's arms trade, which is
an important source of cash.
But few expect Pyongyang to actually shut down the park because it
would harm its already tarnished reputation as an international
business partner, lead to the loss of a steady stream of income and
force the North to find jobs for tens of thousands of its displaced
workers.
The latest nuclear rumblings from the North have not upset
financial players used to the North's threats, but worries may
increase if the North restarts its ageing Yongbyon nuclear plant
and tries to produce more plutonium for bombs.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to visit
Pyongyang this week to discuss the rocket launch and persuade the
North to return to the sputtering nuclear talks with China, Japan,
Russia, South Korea and the United States.
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