North-South Korea border due to close
Updated
Most crossings of the border between North and South Korea will close today - the deadline set by Pyongyang as relations harden between the neighbours. On Friday the last train carrying visitors from the South made the trip, ending any semblance of friendly contact for civilians. North Korea's leadership blames what it calls the South's confrontational policies.
Presenter: Karon Snowdon
Speakers: Lee Chung-Ming, International Relations Professor, Kaesong University, South Korea; Dr Leonard Petrov, Australian National University, Canberra
- Listen:
- Windows Media
KARON SNOWDON, REPORTER: Sightseeing tours which have been running for about a year have come to an end. Just across the border between the two bickering states South Korean tourists would do a one day trip to visit scenic sights in Kaesong. Some of the visitors on Friday's train were unaware it was the last. Jin Gil Sun says, "I didn't know this tour would be the last. I feel very sad to hear that this is the last one." Another South Korean tourist says, "I think we should cooperate a little bit more, making some concessions on our side and some on the North side and also prepare the ground to have a dialogue." The train might have been more symbolism than progress but parts of the commercial operations at the Kaesong Industrial Park which the South has sunk millions of dollars into have also been closed down. Dr Leonid Petrov from the Australian National University says the pretence is over and relations are at their lowest.
DR LEONID PETROV: Well, I think they are at the point at the moment where it's hardly below what can be worse, only probably a fully fledged war because North Koreans are simply deporting South Koreans from joint cooperation areas. South Koreans are sending balloons and propaganda leaflets to North Korea which is against their bilateral agreement. So I think this situation is pretty bad at the moment. I cannot see that it can deteriorate even further.
KARON SNOWDON: Since coming to power in February the South Korean administration under the conservative Lee Myun-Buk has tied contact and essential aid to strict conditions on Pyongyang's nuclear program. The freezing of relations by the North also coincides with a power shift in Pyongyang.
PROFESSOR LEE CHUNG-MIN: The bad health of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Il is another factor. It looks like a group of conservatives step forward and immediately it's reflected in their change of pace in inter-Korean cooperation but now North Korea is definitely less cooperative than it was before.
KARON SNOWDON: Professor Lee Chung-Min from Yonsei University says the North will have to be the one to blink first.
PROFESSOR LEE CHUNG-MIN: North Koreans are the ones who need assistance from South Korea more than we need it from them obviously and Kim Jong Il is apparently trying to signal that he can get assistance from the Chinese but I think North Korea ultimately understands that if they totally freeze and cut off all relations with us then there will be no Korean assistance in terms of fertilisers or economic assistance and they're the ones who really need the aid more than we do so they will probably blink, but in stages.
KARON SNOWDON: And more broadly, and just briefly, on the de-nuclearisation issue, do you think there's more progress likely there in some sort of bilateral relationship between North Korea and the US or has it not come to that yet?
PROFESSOR LEE CHUNG-MIN: Well I think you ask a very important question. The incoming Obama administration may be more, I guess, inclined to investigating bilateral negotiations but they cannot, of course, ignore the six-party talks. You know, Pyongyang is trying very hard to position itself that, "Look, you know, you may get a better deal in you talk directly with us." And if the Obama administration agrees to that particular strategy they will fall into the pitfall of how far do you go in satisfying North Korea because all the other five members will say, "Well these are the bottom, this is the minimum standard by which we want North Korea to behave." And I don't think the Obama administration early on will be willing to take that risk.
