S. Korea to continue efforts for talks with N. Korea: minister

Published : Dec 14, 2015 - 22:32 Updated : Dec 14, 2015 - 22:32

South Korea won't give up efforts to improve ties with North Korea despite a failure to strike a deal in their latest talks, a top official said Monday.

Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said the government will "leave the door for dialogue open and continue efforts for the development of South-North relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula on a step-by-step basis."

He was speaking at a parliamentary forum on the feasibility of a second inter-Korean industrial complex.

The two Koreas had two days of rare vice ministerial talks last week, but they failed to produce an agreement. They didn't even set a schedule for the next round of meeting.

The minister attributed it to the North's "strong demand" for the resumption of the joint tour program to Mount Kumgang on the communist nation's east coast.

Seoul remains firm that Pyongyang should first offer an apology for the 2008 shooting death of a South Korean tourist there by a North Korean soldier and assure that a similar incident will not occur.

Earlier in the day, Hong's ministry publicly called on the North to resume negotiations.

"We hope North Korea will honor the spirit of the Aug. 25 agreement and seriously reflect on ways to improve South-North relations for the implementation (of the deal), and come forward for follow-up talks," the ministry's spokesman Jeong Joon-hee in a press briefing.

Last week's talks were an outcome of the Aug. 25 inter-Korean deal that defused mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula caused by a border land-mine explosion blamed on the North.

"The North insisted that the Mount Kumgang tours be resumed first," he said. "There is no change in the government's basic policy to develop South-North ties and lay the foundation for a peaceful reunification by holding open dialogue with the North."

On the abrupt cancellation of a Beijing concert by North Korea's all-female propaganda band Moranbong, Jeong said Seoul has yet to figure out the background. (Yonhap)