North Korea proposes unconditional talks

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- North Korea opened the door wider for talks with South Korea, saying it is prepared to unconditionally restart the stalled inter-Korean negotiations.

"We do not want to see the present South Korean authorities pass the five-year term of their office idly without North-South dialogue," North Korea's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a written statement to the official government media outlet Korean Central News Agency.

"There is neither conditionality in the North's proposal for dialogue nor need to cast any doubt about its real intention."

Pyongyang suggested the talks take place in Kaesong, the main town in the Kaesong Industrial Region on the two countries' border. The industrial park project was set up in 2002 as a special economic zone where South Korean firms are allowed to set up a business to take advantage of cheap North Korean labor.

Last week Pyongyang called for a "positive dialogue" with Seoul but South Korea dismissed the statement as "propaganda."

South Korean officials said they will review the latest offer, although there has been no official request by Pyongyang for unconditional talks, South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-Sung said.

The proposal by the government in Pyongyang comes amid a war of words and heightened military tensions after Nov. 23. North Korea unexpectedly shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea and several miles from the North's mainland.

Dozens of houses and several military buildings were damaged in the attack that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians and injured at least 20 people. South Korean forces returned fire but there were no known causalities.

Also last year, military tensions rose dramatically with the dramatic sinking off the 1,200-ton South Korean patrol boat Cheonan and the loss of 46 sailors.

North Korea repeatedly denied it had sunk the vessel in March, despite an international investigating team that said it found strong evidence that the Cheonan, which split in half, was hit by a torpedo of North Korean manufacture.

The two Koreas -- still technically at war after the 1953 armistice that split the Korean Peninsula -- slowly have been backing from military confrontation since the new year. Both have made several verbal attempts at rapprochement.

In his annual new year's address to the nation, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said "the door for dialogue is still open" with North Korea on condition it abandons "military adventurism."

He said he hoped that North Korea soon would resume the long-stalled six-way talks over the communist nation's nuclear weapons.

"It is imperative now more than ever for countries concerned to play a fair and responsible role," he said, referring to negotiations with North Korea that include China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Lee also said he wanted North Korea show movement on to "drastically enhance economic cooperation" in partnership with other countries. "Taking it a step further, we need to make endeavors to engage our North Korean brethren in the long journey toward freedom and prosperity."

North Korea responded last week by saying it proposed the two countries' Red Cross organizations restart talks on humanitarian issues that would pave the way for rekindling economic cooperation between the countries. Pyongyang also said it would reopen its liaison office in Kaesong.

China, Pyongyang's main global ally, said North Korea likely will be discussed when Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with U.S. President Barack Obama next week in Washington.

The United States has stressed the importance of reducing imbalances in both the global economy and U.S.-China trade, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Last week, Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy for North Korean policy, wrapped up a visit to Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo where he explored ways to restart the six-party talks.