Seoul rules out envoy to Pyongyang

Seoul said yesterday that it was not reviewing any specific plans yet for the release of five South Koreans detained in North Korea - four fishermen and an engineer.

In response to a question as to whether Seoul was considering sending a special envoy to the North, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said "no."

"The government has made all necessary efforts to resolve the issue of the detained worker (a man surnamed Yoo who was arrested in Gaeseong on March 30)," Chun said in a press briefing.

"(The government) will continue making such efforts."

Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Lee Kang-rae said earlier that Seoul should "declare a full-fledged revision of its policies on North Korea" during President Lee Myung-bak`s speech commemorating the Aug. 15 Liberation Day. The floor leader also suggested Seoul send a special envoy for the release of South Koreans held in the North.



Yoo, an employee of Hyundai Asan Corp., was arrested 130 days ago on charges of defaming North Korea`s political system and instigating a female North Korean to defect to the South.

Four fishermen on board a boat named "Yeonan" have been "under investigation" by the North since July 30 after their boat strayed across the inter-Korean maritime border on the East Sea.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton mentioned Yoo and the fishermen during his visit to Pyongyang on Tuesday, the South Korean foreign ministry said yesterday.

"I heard that former president Clinton conveyed the message (to the North) that Yoo and the Yeonan crew must be released from a humanitarian angle," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a press briefing yesterday.

"We expect swift progress in the issue of our people and fishing boat." Moon said, however, that he had not heard about the North`s response.

Having pardoned the two U.S. journalists, Pyongyang may be more open towards the release of Yoo, experts here say.

With virtually all communication channels shut between the governments of the two Koreas, Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company with exclusive rights for tourism ventures in the North, has been making behind-the-scene efforts for the release of its employee.

Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Chung-eun met with Rhee Jong-hyuk, one of the North`s high-profile point men on the South on Tuesday in the North`s Mt. Geumgang resort.

Hyun had visited Mt. Geumgang to attend the annual memorial service of her husband, former Hyundai Group chairman who passed away six years ago, and the details of Hyun`s meeting with Rhee have not been confirmed.

Nevertheless, the rare move by a high-ranking North Korean official is noteworthy, considering that Hyundai Asan president Cho Geon-shik was greeted working-level officials when he visited the North several times to discuss the release of Yoo.

The gesture may be a simple courtesy call to the Hyundai family, the North`s longtime business partner, but it may also be a sign that Pyongyang is open to discussions to resume the suspended joint tourism ventures or humanitarian cooperation.

(sophie@heraldm.com)



By Kim So-hyun