N Korea shows dual behaviors of provocation, cordial gesture: Park

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that North Korea has shown provocative and conciliatory gestures as a North Korean vessel violated the western maritime border only days after ranking officials made a surprise visit to the South.

Park made the remarks in a meeting with Le Luong Minh, secretary general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), at her office, requesting that ASEAN play a role in prodding the North into giving up its nuclear weapons.

As North Korea has shown such contradictory behavior, Park requested ASEAN's consistent cooperation in making the North abandon its nuclear program and become a responsible member of the international community, the presidential office said.

Her remarks came as a North Korean delegation headed by Hwang Pyong-so, believed to be the second-most powerful man in the communist regime, made a surprise visit to South Korea on Saturday in a burgeoning sign of better inter-Korean relations.

The ostensible purpose of the visit was to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games held in the South, but the two Koreas also agreed to hold another round of high-level talks in the near future, with analysts saying that the visit may herald a breakthrough in chilly inter-Korean relations.

But South and North Korean patrol boats briefly exchanged fire Tuesday after a North Korean naval vessel violated the tense western maritime border.

Responding to Park's request, Minh was quoted as saying that ASEAN has consistently expressed concerns about North Korea's nuclear activity, adding that it is opposed to tension on the Korean Peninsula.

His visit to Seoul was made as Park will hold summit talks with leaders of the ASEAN in South Korea's second-largest city of Busan in December.

The summit, set for Dec. 11-12, is designed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue between South Korea and ASEAN. (Yonhap)