Asia-Pacific

ROK calls on DPRK to unfreeze assets before talks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-17 12:36
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SEOUL -- The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Wednesday renewed its call on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to withdraw its confiscation of ROK assets at a mountain resort in the DPRK before discussing reopening suspended tours to the spot.

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"As long as unjust measures stay in place, there seem to be no conditions for the two sides to hold talks over resuming tours," Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters in a press briefing.

The DPRK had proposed that the two sides hold government-level talks on Friday in the border town of Kaesong to discuss resuming tours, indefinitely suspended after a shooting death of a ROK tourist there in 2008.

The ROK government sent a message to the DPRK that talks over cross-border tours should continue in the context of the earlier talks in February, Lee added.

Seoul has refused to reopen the tours, once a rare source of hard cash for Pyongyang, unless the DPRK allows an investigation into the case and draws up safety measures for the ROK tourists.

In protest against Seoul's refusal, Pyongyang in April seized ROk-owned properties at the mountain resort, which Seoul said violated inter-Korean agreements and international norms.