북한이 14일 우리 정부의 대화 제의를 사실상 거부했다.
   
북한의 대남기구인 조국평화통일위원회(조평통) 대변인은 이날 정부의 대화  제의를 "개성공업지구를 위기에 몰아넣은 저들의 범죄적 죄행을 꼬리자르기 하고 내외 여론을 오도하며 대결적 정체를 가리우기 위한 교활한 술책"이라고 비난했다.
    
조평통 대변인은 이날 북한 조선중앙통신사 기자의 질문에 이같이 밝히고 "북침핵전쟁 연습과 동족대결모략책동에 매달려온 자들이 사죄나 책임에 대한 말한마디 없이 대화를 운운한 것은 너무도 철면피한 행위"라면서 "대화 제의라는 것을 들여다 보아도 아무 내용이 없는 빈 껍데기에 불과하다"고 주장했다.
 
대변인은 "남조선 집권자와 통일부 수장이라는 자가 대화 제의를 하면서 (상)대방에 대해 '도발'이니 '핵포기'니 '변화'니 '악순환의 반복'이니 하는 독기어린  망발을 떠들어댄 것은 그들이 적대의식과 대결적 속심을 버리지 않았다는 것을 여실히 보여준다"고 밝혔다.
   
대변인은 이어 "북남대화는 장난이나 놀음(놀이)이 아니며 말싸움판은 더더욱 아니다. 그런 대화는 무의미하며 안 하기보다도 못하다"며 "남조선 당국이 진정으로 대화 의지가 있다면 말장난을 할 것이 아니라 근본적인 대결자세부터 버려야  한다"고 강조했다.
   
박근혜 대통령은 지난 11일 오후 청와대에서 국회 외교통일위·국방위 소속  새누리당 의원들과 만찬 자리에서 "북한과 대화할 것"이라고 밝히며 "한반도 신뢰  프로세스는 반드시 가동돼야 한다. 상황이 어렵더라도 '프로세스'이므로 항상  진행되는 것"이라고 말했다.
   
이에 앞서 류길재 통일부 장관도 같은날 발표한 '성명'에서 "개성공단 정상화는 대화를 통해 해결돼야 한다"며 "이와 관련 북측이 제기하는 사안을 논의하기 위해서라도 북한 당국은 대화의 장으로 나오길 바란다"고 밝혔다.

<관련 영문 기사>

N.K. rebuffs Seoul's dialogue offer

By Shin Hyon-hee

North Korea on Sunday rebuffed Seoul’s proposal last week for dialogue to resolve the dispute over Gaeseong industrial complex, calling it a “cunning gimmick."

Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea demanded the South give up its “hostile attitude” if it wants talks.

A Seoul official said it is too early to assess the North’s true intentions, noting that it stated how the situation will develop will depend on the South’s attitude.

President Park Geun-hye and the Unification Ministry offered talks with the North on Thursday to settle the standoff over Pyongyang’s withdrawal of its workers and a temporary suspension of the joint industrial town.

In response, a spokesperson of the committee criticized Seoul’s overture for being aimed at “cutting short (South Korea’s) criminal offenses that put the Gaeseong industrial complex into a crisis, misleading the internal and external public and concealing its confrontational identity.”

“It is too brazen for those who have been engrossed in nuclear war games and fratricidal confrontation plots to mention dialogue without saying a word about apologies or their responsibilities,” the unnamed spokesperson said, calling the offer an “empty shell.”

It also accused President Park and Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae of “not abandoning a hostile spirit and confrontational mindset,” citing their use of terms like provocation, nuclear relinquishment, change and repeat of a vicious cycle.

After weeks of tit-for-tat shows of force and verbal threats, hopes were rising for a new conjuncture after Beijing also gave a boost to the peace overture by calling on its isolated ally and aid beneficiary to cease saber-rattling and promising efforts to help strip it of nuclear weapons. 

North Korea appears to have since last Thursday stopped moving around its transporter-erector-launchers for short- and mid-range missiles believed to be technically ready for test-firing.

The mobile launchers were seen repeatedly relocating on the east coast last week in an apparent attempt to interfere with intelligence monitoring by South Korea and the U.S.

“The vehicles carrying Musudan, Rodong and Scud missiles have not moved and been standing in the same place since two days ago,” an unnamed Seoul official was quoted as saying on Saturday by Yonhap News. “There are no signs of an imminent missile launch.”

The communist country’s warlike rhetoric is also showing a letup after churning out threats of a nuclear strike on and a “sacred war” with South Korea and the U.S.

State media, meanwhile, has not been reporting on the activity of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since a Supreme People’s Assembly session on April 1, fueling speculation about his whereabouts and intention on where to take cross-border ties. 

The young dictator made headlines throughout last month, convening a rare midnight operation meeting, inspecting front-line military units and putting them into the “No. 1 combat-ready posture.”

As the allies seek a way out of the ever-growing tension, news reports emerged last week that senior North Korean and U.S. diplomats had a meeting in New York in mid-March. 

But “no real progress” was made during the backchannel exchange between Clifford Hart, Washington’s special envoy for the six-party denuclearization talks, and Han Song-ryol, Pyongyang’s deputy ambassador to the U.N., Foreign Policy magazine’s blog reported.

The perceived swing in the mood coincided with the reconciliatory gesture from Seoul and Washington.

At a meeting with ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers Thursday, President Park Geun-hye said that she will “talk with North Korea.”

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae issued a statement earlier in the day, calling for dialogue to break the standoff over Pyongyang’s recent suspension of a joint industrial park in the border city of Gaeseong.

The North barred the entry of South Korean workers and cargo on April 4 and pulled out all its 53,000 workers from the district five days later.

“The normalization of the Gaeseong complex should be resolved through dialogue. To discuss issues it wants to raise, North Korea should come forward for dialogue,” Ryoo told a news conference.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday also urged Kim to refrain from pushing ahead with the missile launch and return to the negotiating table for disarmament. 

“Our preference would be to get to talks,” he said during a separate press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Seoul. The event was part of Kerry’s 10-day tour to Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. 

“Our preference would be, through these six-party or through bilateral means, to get to a place where we are talking about the real future, which is the future of denuclearizing and ultimately … the reunification of the peninsula as a peaceful, nonnuclear entity.”

“I think we have lowered our rhetoric significantly,” he said, noting that U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the cancellation of a number of military exercises.

The Pentagon has delayed a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile which was slated for April 9 in an ostensible effort to avoid vexing the North and escalating tension.

The decision followed a month of muscle-flexing by the U.S. with stealth and nuclear bombers, top-notch fighter jets and an atomic submarine during its drills with South Korea.

“We really want to focus people on the better alternative.  We don’t want to get into a threat-for-threat or some kind of confrontational language here. There’s been enough of that,” Kerry said in Beijing on Saturday.

During a meeting with Chinese State Councilor in charge of foreign affairs Yang Jiechi, Kerry said they reaffirmed the two countries’ “joint commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.”

With the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement being the focal point of their efforts, he said the U.S. is "determined to make that goal a reality” and that it agreed to have further discussions to “bear down very quickly with great specificity on exactly how we will accomplish this goal.” 

Yang said in response that China is “firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing the denuclearization process,” stressing the issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation.

A defining moment is expected to come Monday as North Koreans celebrate the 101st anniversary of Kim Il-sung, the founding father and grandfather of the youthful leader.

Pyongyang has historically made provocations around its national holidays or the birthdays of former and incumbent rulers, a move aimed at boasting its military might and solidifying the people against outside power.

Seoul and Washington are mobilizing their intelligence assets to monitor any missile launch and readying interception devices. Tokyo has also put on standby its core tracking and interception assets including Aegis-equipped destroyers and Standard Missile-3 ship-to-air mid-course interceptor missiles. 

It also plans to use the “hit-to-kill” Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles capable of intercepting hostile missiles at lower altitudes.

“The government’s general observation is that the North may fire missiles between April 10 and 15,” Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told a briefing Thursday, adding that the agency could activate the “fragmentation-type” PAC-2 interception system if any North Korean missiles fly toward the country’s territory.

(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)