S. Korea’s President OKs Talks With North

South Korean President Kim Dae Jung on Sunday accepted a proposal by North Korea for direct bilateral talks for the first time since 1994, saying the overture marked “a substantial progression and change in our relations.”

“Since we have insisted on direct talks, we will not only attend but also engage in a sincere dialogue to attain a successful outcome,” Kim told reporters in Seoul.

The move was greeted with guarded optimism in the South, but the location of the proposed meeting remained undecided today and could prove to be a sticking point.

North Korea on Saturday proposed that vice ministers of each nation meet April 11 in Beijing to discuss fertilizer aid to the North. The Chinese capital is where previous food aid talks between the two countries’ Red Cross representatives have been held.

However, the South Korean government has long insisted that any direct talks should be held on the Korean peninsula, preferably in Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone between the two countries. South Korean newspapers, quoting unidentified government sources, carried conflicting reports in Sunday’s and today’s editions about whether the Southern government would agree to a meeting in Beijing.

The two Koreas have been conducting a wary diplomatic courtship since Kim was inaugurated in February with a promise to initiate an era of better relations with the South’s Stalinist neighbor, including personal attendance at a summit. Kim has since loosened the stiff restrictions on private contacts between the two countries, including on visits by South Korean businesspeople to the North. But the most recent diplomatic contact between the two enemies ended in failure last month when an ongoing attempt to have the two Koreas, China and the United States hash out a peace treaty to replace the temporary truce that ended the Korean War wound up in Geneva in a seemingly hopeless stalemate.

Nevertheless, leading South Korean newspapers welcomed the new initiative.

“Regardless of the outcome of the talks, the fact that Southern and Northern government figures will sit down to talk for the first time in almost three years is itself meaningful,” said the Joong Ang Ilbo in an editorial published today.