Roh to Seek Direct Contacts With N. Korea

President Roh Tae Woo, in what could be a historic departure from South Korea’s total rejection of ties with communist North Korea, said today he will seek direct contacts as part of an “era of reconciliation” in relations between the two Koreas.

In a nationally broadcast address, Roh said it was time to end decades of “counterproductive diplomacy” by Seoul with regard to North Korea.

Seoul will also seek better ties to Pyongyang’s allies--the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe--and push for direct bilateral trade with North Korea, he said.

Family Reunification

Specific steps on the path to a “united, prosperous homeland” included mutual visits by representatives of all social groups in North and South Korea, and the reunification of thousands of families split by the 1953 partition of Korea into communist and capitalist states, Roh said.

He added that South Korea would no longer oppose trade deals between friendly third nations and the North, as long as no weapons transactions were involved.

Analysts in Seoul interpreted Roh’s speech as potentially the first move toward a far-reaching campaign of detente between the two Koreas. It was the first time, they noted, that a South Korean leader has departed so clearly from the confrontational policies of the past in dealings with the North.

Tension Over Olympics

A major reason for Roh’s change of course, they added, was the officially unacknowledged worry that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could grow as a result of North Korea’s boycott of the forthcoming Summer Olympic Games at Seoul.

The offer of closer non-governmental contacts with the North amounted to an “Olympic gesture,” the full sincerity of which would become apparent only after the games take place, the analysts said.

Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, South and North Korea have maintained a joint total of about 1 million soldiers on both sides of the 38th Parallel, which separates the two states.