N. Korea Cancels Planned Meeting

North Korea abruptly pulled out of economic talks with South Korea that were supposed to begin today, exasperating negotiators who had believed that the unpredictable Communist state was becoming more cooperative.

Providing only a day’s notice, North Korea issued an indignant statement saying it wasn’t sending a delegation to Seoul as planned because of remarks last month by South Korea’s foreign minister. Those comments appeared to support the Bush administration’s tough stance toward the North.

The sudden withdrawal was especially disappointing because it came just days after a round of reunions between separated Korean families, which was held at the North Korean resort of Mt. Kumgang.

“It clearly takes the wind out of the sails for people who had high hopes after the reunions of families,” said Scott Snyder, Korea representative of the nonprofit Asia Foundation.

One possible explanation is mounting concern over a dam near Mt. Kumgang that South Koreans believe is in imminent danger of collapse and could cause flooding in the border areas.

The South Korean delegation to the economic talks had been expected to demand the right to inspect the dam--something that might have caused objections from the North Korean military, which is resisting the talks with the South.

Puzzled North Korea watchers also suggested that the North had decided to devote its energy not to talks with South Korea, but with the United States. Last week, North Korea said that it would reopen those talks, and U.S. special envoy Jack Pritchard is expected to visit the capital, Pyongyang, this month.

In its curt statement, the official Korean Central News Agency decried comments made by Foreign Minister Choi Sung Hong during a trip to Washington last month. Choi was quoted two weeks ago in the Washington Post saying, “Sometimes carrying a big stick works in forcing North Korea to come forward.”

The North said that Choi “locked the door to the resumption of North-South dialogue with his reckless remarks.” On Monday, the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun also described Choi as a “sycophantic traitor.”

The canceled talks were supposed to have been a second round of the inter-Korean economic cooperation discussions held in December 2000 as a follow-up to the landmark visit of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung to Pyongyang earlier that year.

Ironically, the main purpose of the talks was to discuss ways that prosperous South Korea can help the North rescue its failing economy. Among the specific items on the agenda were reconnecting rail and road lines that had been severed during the Korean War, building an industrial park near the border and the possible donation of South Korean electricity to the North.

“I don’t know why they canceled, but this is the kind of thing we are used to with North Korea,” said Paik Jin Hyun, a North Korea specialist at Seoul National University. “I suppose they didn’t see enough of an incentive at this time.”