North Korea boycotts talks
2004-08-03 10:16
Seoul - North Korea boycotted cabinet-level talks with South Korea scheduled to start here on Tuesday, angry over the defection of hundreds of North Koreans to the South last week.
Pyongyang described the mass defection as an act of "kidnapping and terrorism committed by South Korean authorities in broad daylight".
The South Korean ministry of unification said in a statement that it deeply regretted Pyongyang's decision not to attend the talks.
"We urge the North side to come to the talks at the earliest possible date and discuss and resolve pending issues of the two sides so as to continue pushing forward inter-Korean ties," it said.
Strained ties
The two Koreas have been at odds over the defection and Seoul's earlier refusal to let pro-unification activists visit Pyongyang for the 10th anniversary of the death of the North's founding leader, Kim Il-Sung on July 8.
North Korea also scrapped maritime and military talks with South Korea in retaliation.
Cabinet-level talks are the highest level of current dialogue between the two Koreas and were established following an inter-Korean summit in 2000 that triggered a thaw in bilateral ties.
South Korea has played down the significance of the North Korean boycott, saying Seoul remains committed to engagement with the communist state, which is in dire need of assistance to revive its economy.
Two South Korean chartered flights carried more than 450 North Korean refugees to South Korea last week. They had previously been holed up in an unidentified South-east Asian nation after escaping their impoverished homeland.
It was the biggest mass defection to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Activists engaged in the defection said they came from Vietnam. Hanoi has declined to comment on the defection.
South Korea's unification ministry said it planned to buy 100 000 tons of rice from Vietnam as part of a 400 000-ton food aid consignment for North Korea.
South Korean officials said the North Koreans had arrived in the country in small groups separately over the past few years and their accumulated number reached a level that the host country could no longer sustain, compelling Seoul to bring them here.
Despite the angry reaction from the North, South Korean officials said there would be no change in Seoul's policy to accept any North Koreans who are staying in foreign countries while waiting for the chance to come here.
Up to 300 000 North Koreans are said to be in hiding in China according to some estimates and hundreds are believed to be gathering in various South-east Asian nations. Most are awaiting a chance to reach the South.
About 5 000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the Korean War ended in 1953. Most have done so in the past three years. More than 1 000 have reached South Korea so far this year.