North asks South to slash Pyongyang delegation for summit ceremony

Citing U.S. hostility, North Korea suddenly asked the South yesterday to slash by more than two-thirds the size of a delegation it will send to Pyongyang for June 14-17 ceremonies to mark the fifth anniversary of the historic 2000 inter-Korean summit accord.

The two Koreas agreed last Saturday that Seoul would send 70 government officials, headed by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, and 615 civilian representatives for the joint celebrations. But the North requested the South send only 30 government officials and 190 civilian members.

"In a telephone message, North Korea claimed that new hindrances have been encountered regarding the celebrations, as the United States criticizes the North Korean regime regarding the nuclear issue," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hong-jae said here.

The North expressed anger over U.S. criticism of its political system and recent U.S. deployment of 15 F-117 stealth bombers for a training mission lasting more than four months in South Korea, Kim said.

The request is expected to undermine Seoul`s efforts to normalize strained inter-Korean relations. The agreement on the joint celebration came two weeks after the first senior-level inter-Korean talks in 10 months, when the two Koreas agreed to normalize strained relations by resuming cabinet-level talks in Seoul June 21-24.

Ministry officials held an emergency meeting to assess the North`s intention, and said the government will urge North Korea to honor its agreement regarding the joint anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang.

The surprise North Korean move came as:

- Final preparations continued in Washington for a June 10 summit there between Presidents George W. Bush and Roh Moo-hyun to discuss ways to resolve the nuclear standoff and reaffirm the Korea-U.S. alliance.

- Bush, abruptly shifting his usually stern comments about the North, referred on Tuesday to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as "Mr. Kim," and contended that diplomacy can convince him to give up his nuclear weapons program.

Last Friday Bush said at a U.S. Naval Academy commencement ceremony that the United States could target enemies without claiming mass civilian casualties. "In this era of warfare, we can target a regime, not a nation, and that means terrorists and tyrants can no longer feel safe hiding behind innocent life," he said. Bush has previously referred to Kim as a "tyrant."

Earlier this week Vice President Dick Cheney labeled Kim as one of the world`s "most irresponsible leaders"

- Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon praised Bush`s remarks for casting a brighter light in resolving the nuclear standoff.

"(Bush`s remarks) have reaffirmed the effort to peacefully and diplomatically solve the North Korean problem and I expect it to become advantageously useful in creating an environment to revive the six-party talks," he said at his weekly news briefing.

- State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that over the past nine months, the United States and its allies successfully prevented two deliveries of material bound for North Korea to make nuclear and chemical weapons. He gave no specifics.

"I have cited two cases involving North Korea. I`ve cited several cases involving countries of proliferation concern, including Iran," Boucher told reporters. Foreign Minister Ban refused to comment on Boucher`s report.

Pyongyang has been raising the stakes in the last few months on the nuclear standoff.

On Feb. 10 it announced it possesses nuclear weapons and will boycott the six-party talks indefinitely.

Amid negative evaluations that North Korea is not likely to return to the six-party talks with the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, Washington recently took steps which could be seen as aimed at isolating Pyongyang.

The Pentagon last week suspended its recovery missions on North Korean soil for the remains of missing American servicemen from the Korean War, citing fears for the safety of U.S. military teams working there.

Also last week, Washington refused to renew the contract of Charles Kartman, who headed the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization in charge of building a light-water nuclear reactor for the North since 2001. The construction has been halted for some three years.

(smjoo@heraldm.com)



By Joo Sang-min