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Top of the Agenda: Koreas Agree on Talks
South
Korean officials will meet their North Korean counterparts next week
after Seoul extended an invitation to hold talks on restoring the
jointly-run Kaesong factory park (Yonhap),
a project largely financed by the South to increase cooperation and a
key source of revenue for the North. The discussions mark the Koreas'
first government-level negotiations since South Korean President Park
Geun-hye took office in February, and a thawing of diplomatic relations (BBC)
since North Korea pulled out its workers in April after regional
relations deteriorated in the wake of its February nuclear test. The
agreement comes a day before a U.S.-China meeting in which North Korea
is expected to be a key topic.
Analysis
"China is taking a tougher stance
on North Korea, as the U.S. hoped it would. It has supported tighter
U.N. sanctions in response to the February nuclear test and stepped up
border inspections. Most notably, a leading Chinese state bank shut
accounts of North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank, its main foreign exchange
institution," writes Matthew Pennington for the AP.
"Xi
also plans to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in June.
Having North Korea express positive signs about rejoining the Six-Party talks, which it had long rejected, can be considered a major achievement for China," write Atsushi Okudera and Akira Nakano for Asahi Shimbun.
"Pyongyang
had previously rejected Seoul's calls for discussions on the zone.
Thursday's statement from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of Korea in Pyongyang also proposed talks on resuming cross-border tours, suspended since 2008, and restarting family reunions," writes Tania Branigan for The Guardian.
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