President Park Geun-hye on Monday hinted that Seoul could consider lifting economic sanctions on Pyongyang if the communist regime shows a willingness to resolve the stand-off through proposed high-level talks.

“South and North Korean officials should resolve matters including the May 24 (sanctions), which is a red-hot issue now, by holding sincere talks with a responsible attitude,” said Park during a meeting with members of the presidential committee for unification preparation.

It was the first time the South Korean president brought up the issue of the restrictions on North Korea since taking office early last year. The May 24 sanctions ban bilateral trade and new investment in the North. The measure was imposed in retaliation to a torpedo attack by the North on a South Korean Navy vessel in 2010. Pyongyang has been pressuring Seoul to lift the ban and resume the long-stalled tours to Mount Geumgangsan. The communist regime is believed to have suffered economically from Seoul’s punitive measures. But Seoul wants Pyongyang to admit its involvement in the attack that killed 46 sailors. 

Her remark came amid growing distrust of the North’s ambivalent attitude toward the South. Three of the North’s most influential figures ― Hwang Pyong-so, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon ― made a surprise visit to the South Korean port city of Incheon early this month, reopening communication channels that had remained shut for a long time. The North Korean delegation struck a deal with their South Korean counterparts to hold a second round of high-level talks later this month or in early November. The hope for a thaw in inter-Korean relations, however, quickly faded after the two Koreas exchanged fire near the Northern Limit Line, a de facto sea border, last week.

On Friday, North Korea also fired antiaircraft machine guns to shoot down balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent by civic activists in the South. North Korea lashed out at the leafleting campaign, threatening to cancel the high-level talks which it had previously agreed to hold.

Despite the North’s continued threats and provocations, Park urged Pyongyang to hold talks, citing the high-level talks as “an opportunity for improved inter-Korean ties.”

Park said that the relationship between the two Koreas has remained unstable so far, and it is “very dangerous” to seek a change in the South’s existing stance toward the North.

To deal with the North’s “double-faced” actions, Park said she will keep the door open for dialogue but will act sternly against Pyongyang’s continued provocations.

“Like there is a saying that talk is needed even during hostilities, dialogue should continue to ease tension and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula,” she said.

Park’s remark was widely seen as a gesture to preserve the mood for inter-Korean dialogue before she leaves on an overseas trip on Tuesday. The South Korean president plans to visit Italy to attend a biannual meeting with leaders of Asian and European countries on Tuesday.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)