Pres. Park says Seoul may discuss lifting sanctions against Pyongyang

President Park Geun-hye said on Monday that Seoul could discuss lifting May 24 sanctions against North Korea with Pyongyang. As this is the president’s first indication of a possibility of lifting the sanctions, North Korea’s response remains to be seen. A source from the South Korean government said that the government could release the schedule for the second high-level meeting and the list of the South Korean delegation to the North on Wednesday at the earliest.

“(The second) high-level contact should be taken as an opportunity to improve the inter-Korean relations,” President Park said in the opening remark of the second meeting for the Unification Preparation Committee held at the presidential office on Monday, “Both the South and North Korean authorities should meet and discuss current hot issues like the May 24 sanctions in a responsible and sincere manner.” The May 24 sanctions were imposed against North Korea to ban civilians’ visit to the North, inter-Korean trade, and investments in North Korea after it turned out that North Korea sank South Korea’s Cheonan naval corvette in 2010. “The government will be firm on provocations going forward but will always open its door for a dialogue,” President Park said on North Korea’s recent provocation. “A dialogue is necessary even in the midst of war. We need to continue dialogues.” President Park said on preparing unification, “We need a specific plan for peaceful reunification and an action plan that makes the people realize easing tensions on the Korean peninsula and allows both Seoul and Pyongyang to build a practice of peace.”

The social and cultural division of the Unification Preparation Committee reported a “DMZ Peace and Culture Art Festival where both South and North Korean residents and Koreans living abroad can participate in the DMZ part around the Liberation Day on the 70th anniversary of liberation next year under the assumption that the DMZ World Ecological Peace Park is created as stressed by the president. The Committee is said to be in a review of an art festival where both the South and North Korean leaders participate depending on the progress of the inter-Korean relationship.

When Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the ruling Saenuri Party asked in a parliamentary audit by the parliamentary defense committee, “Is Kim Jong Un brain dead”, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Choi Yoon Hee (admiral) said, “He is not brain dead. What we know is that there is no big problem in (his) rule.”