SEOUL, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- South Korean officials are cautiously considering a North Korean proposal that high-level talks and cross-border cooperation projects be resumed, but they question the motives of their communist neighbor's abrupt switch from open hostility to conciliatory gestures.
Analysts say the North's offer to mend inter-Korean ties, which reportedly includes proposed summit talks, are largely aimed at driving a wedge in the Seoul-Washington alliance to weaken U.S.-led international sanctions.
North Korea has used a high-level delegation -- sent to Seoul to pay respects to the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who died last week -- to deliver a message from its leader Kim Jong Il to his South Korean counterpart, President Lee Myung-bak.
The condolence envoys led by Kim Ki Nam, one of the closest aides of the North Korean leader, extended their stay in Seoul by a day to have a chance to meet Lee, who has ruled out restoring inter-Korean ties without an agreement to resolve the North's nuclear issues.
South Korea's major newspapers, Chosun Ilbo and JoongAng Ilbo, said the message contained a proposal for an inter-Korean summit. The North Korean leader expressed his hope in the message that "the North and the South would cooperate to resolve all issues," the newspapers said.
The presidential office denied the reports on the proposed summit, however. "There were only general discussions on the development of South-North relations," Lee's office said in a statement on Monday. "The North Korean leader's message did not include any proposal for a summit," it said.
The presidential office added that Lee would support any form of meeting with North Korea -- including a summit -- at any time if the communist country committed to giving up its nuclear weapons programs.
Lee has also said he would set up a $40 billion international investment fund with input from the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other governments to triple North Korea's per capita income to $3,000 within the next 10 years if the impoverished nation gives up its nuclear weapons.
During Sunday's meeting, Lee told the North's envoys about the comprehensive package of economic incentives to be provided to the impoverished nation, according to his office. "Nuclear weapons do not guarantee North Korea's security. They darken its future," Lee was quoted as saying.
The North's envoys also met the South's point man on the North, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, during their three-day trip to Seoul, which marked the first official contact between the two Koreas since Lee took office in February 2008.
"The two sides in principle agreed on the need for high-level dialogue, but it will take time for such talks to take place as the North still wants to focus on economic issues rather than the nuclear issue," a government official said.
The North has refused to discuss its nuclear issue with the South, claiming the nuclear dispute was caused by the United States' "hostile policy" toward it and could be resolved only bilaterally between Pyongyang and Washington.
Analysts say the North's dispatch of a high-level mission to mourn former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and other friendly gestures are largely aimed at reviving "reconciliation fever" among the South Korean public, which could force the conservative government into a more pliable policy toward the North, including the resumption of much-needed food and economic aid.
"The North seeks to avert U.S.-led pressure by forging a conciliatory mood in relations with the South," said Suh Jae-jean, the president of Seoul's official Korea Institute for National Unification.
Kim Dae-jung, who served as president from 1998-2003, went to the North for the first-ever inter-Korean summit, a historic event that helped Kim win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. He had pushed for cross-border reconciliation under a "Sunshine Policy" of aiding and embracing the North as a way to let the isolated nation "take off its Cold War coat."
Chung Ok-nim, a ruling lawmaker and North Korea expert, said the sharp change in the North's belligerent policy toward the South was prompted by a worsening cash crunch and food shortages following U.N.-imposed sanctions.
