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China-Japan-Koreas
N Korea boycotts talks
2004-08-03
Not those talks, other talks.
NORTH Korea has boycotted Cabinet-level talks with South Korea scheduled to start in Seoul today. It is angry over the defection of hundreds of "human scum" 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 their senses 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.

The two Koreas have been at odds over the defection and Seoul's earlier refusal to let pro-unification harebrained 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.
Quite a hissy fit it was, too.
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 moribund 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 tonnes of rice from Vietnam as part of a 400,000-tonne food aid for North Korea.
South Koreans are getting better at this bribery thing.
South Korean officials said the North Koreans had arrived in the country in small groups separately in 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.
Posted by:Steve White

#8  Successful negotiation requires good will and compromise of positions. I do not see that anywhere, so nothing will happen. Anon 5032 brings out the point well in #6 above. The SKors don't want the north to fall fast. Neither do the ChiComs. So nothing will happen, except possible NORK nuclear blackmail. Great problem solving. Sheesh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-08-03 1:06:35 PM  

#7  â€œSince the US, China, South Korea, and North Korea have different interests; the problem won’t be resolved by negotiation.”

I stated that poorly. Since they have very different and incompatible goals, the problem won’t be resolved by negotiation.
Posted by: Anonymous5032   2004-08-03 11:23:50 AM  

#6  The South Koreans don’t want the North Korean government to fall. They saw what re-unification did to Germany and know that absorbing their North Korean “brothers” would destroy their economy.

They hope to very slowly change the North Korean government. They want to put off the crisis.

China has concerns about refugees and instability along the Korean border. In addition China doesn’t want a country friendly to the US along the China-Korean border.

“Hmmmm - wonder how eager they'll be for talks when the first snows hit?”

The North Korean leaders care little for the peasants. Starving peasants are viewed as a good way to get international money that can then be spent on the leadership and the military.

Since the US, China, South Korea, and North Korea have different interests; the problem won’t be resolved by negotiation.
Posted by: Anonymous5032   2004-08-03 11:19:56 AM  

#5  Hmmmm - wonder how eager they'll be for talks when the first snows hit?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-08-03 9:48:43 AM  

#4  via China, Ship.

It may be hard to get from Nork to China, but apparently its not at all hard to move around China - i mean youve got millions of Chinese moving around from rural areas to urban labor markets, and the Chinese seem to rely on pass programs in the cities to try to control that.

As for crossing from China to Viet Nam, a I suppose thats not to hard either, since VN is a lower wage country than China, and probably doesnt expect to get hordes of Chinese coming in.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-08-03 9:34:14 AM  

#3  So how did they get to Vietnam? (the host country?)
Posted by: Shipman   2004-08-03 9:18:17 AM  

#2  NK should look at the issue philisophically - after the reunification, everybody will be together again anyway. What's a little defection among family?
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-08-03 12:35:41 AM  

#1  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 moribund economy.

The Norks do not need assistance, they need to fall so the North Korean people can be saved from their madness.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-08-03 12:15:29 AM  

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