Daniel Sherwood’s Weblog

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/09/content_8518802.htm
DPRK takes hard line over S Korea’s offer of summit meeting
Last week, the DPRK declined the attempt by South Korea’s President Lee to hold an inter-Korean summit showing North Korea’s tough stand against the South Korea administration. Addressing a recent Japanese report that President Lee would be willing to meet with Kim Jong Il if it helped address the Korean Peninsula’s nuclear issues, DRPK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland dismissed the idea.The Committee expressed disbelief that negotiations with President Lee would be possible and showed the continued resistance against Lee since he took office in South Korea.When President Lee took office, he expressed a strong stance against the DPRK but this stand has experienced changes. Additionally, North Korea had taken a “wait-and-see stance” against Lee’s policy against them, but ended up criticizing Lee and his actions involving the US.  North Korea also declined South Korea’s DPRK policy that would help the country concerning its per capita national income after the resolution of the nuclear issues after 10 years. Because of North Korea’s stand, the country has stopped government talks with South Korea. It has also been reported that missiles were test-fired in a disputed inter-Korean location in the Yellow Sea along with threats of a preemptive attack on South Korea. President Lee’s attempts to ease his stance against North Korea from when he initially took office has been a struggle. Tension between the north and south could flair up on any number of circumstances. Peace talks in 2007 showed positive steps toward better relations and are hoped to continue. As Six-Party talks continue the US is making strides to build relations with the north. From What we have seen with the recent shooting this may be an indicator of one of the above mentioned circumstances. I got this article from a chinese based website. It seems that the Chinese are looking at North South relations a little differently than the US. From what I have been reading on US websites, the vibe is more that North and South Korea were getting along. Now with this recent shooting incident I am not so sure.