President Park Geun-hye on Monday increased her pressure on North Korea to apologize for the recent land mine blast and prevent a recurrence, warning that South Korea would continue its propaganda broadcasts should her demands not be met.

Park maintained a hard-line stance as the two Koreas continued grueling high-level talks over a recent spate of North Korean attacks at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom for the third consecutive day.

“The most important things with regard to the talks are North Korea’s apology for recent provocations including the land mine provocation that triggered the current situation,” Park said during a meeting of her senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae.

“An apology and prevention of a recurrence are needed in order not to repeat (North Korea’s) repetitive provocations and subsequent public angst. (Without an apology), we will take corresponding measures and continue propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers.”

Park, however, noted that her government was doing its best to settle the pending issues with Pyongyang.

“Currently, we are in talks with the North to finalize our agreement. As soon as the result comes out, we will clearly explain it to the public,” she said.

Her tough stance reaffirmed her repeated vows to break the “vicious circle” of North Korea making provocations to induce a crisis on the peninsula, with South Korea offering concessions to the North to resolve the crisis, only for Pyongyang to make more provocations in pursuit of more rewards.

An intense tug-of-war between the two Koreas continued during the cross-border talks that began Saturday and continued for three days, with some breaks in between.

Kim Kwan-jin, chief of Cheong Wa Dae’s National Security Office, and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo represented the South Korean side. Hwang Pyong-so, the director of the North Korean military’s General Political Bureau, and Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party and top official in charge of inter-Korean issues, attended on behalf of the North.

The delegations first met at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at South Korea’s Peace House in the border village and their talks continued until 4:15 a.m. the next day. After an “adjournment,” the talks resumed at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday and continued into Monday.

The South Korean delegation demanded that Pyongyang apologize for the Aug. 4 land mine attacks that severely injured two South Korean troops, reprimand those who orchestrated the attacks, and take steps to prevent a recurrence.

But the North Korean side has reportedly denied responsibility for the attacks, and urged the South to immediately turn off its propaganda loudspeakers in the border regions.

The South resumed the propaganda broadcasts on Aug. 10 for the first time in 11 years in retaliation for the land mine blast. Showing sensitivity to the broadcasts, the North issued a 48-hour ultimatum last Thursday, demanding the loudspeakers be turned off.

The North has called the broadcasts a “threat to its (communist) system,” as the broadcasts highlight South Korea’s economic advancement, the benefits of liberal democracy, the importance of human rights and call for the restoration of the divided nation’s homogeneity, among other things.

North Korea experts say Pyongyang may regard Seoul’s broadcasts as an affront to its “supreme dignity,” namely North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and that the regime may fear that its people would slowly become more aware of its despotic nature.

The ongoing talks apparently delayed the ultimatum and allowed the North to stall for time, observers said.

Amid the ongoing marathon talks, hopes also grew that the two sides might try to strike a compromise, which would allow the North to express “regret” without specifying the culprit behind the land mine attacks.



By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)