North Put off by Straight Talk

North Korea on Thursday continued to blame Unification Minister Hong Soon-young for the collapse a day earlier of the sixth inter-Korean ministerial dialogue. The North's delegates to the talks said the attitude of the South Korean side, and particularly Mr. Hong, the South's chief delegate, destroyed any chance for agreements on key issues.

"The breakdown of the talks is due to the South's insincerity, and especially the chief South Korean delegate's high-handed and foul attitude," North Korea's Radio Pyeongyang complained Thursday. The statement, which was released by the North Korean delegation Wednesday, continued, "We must seriously question whether the chief delegate is qualified to be our dialogue partner."

The North has taken issue with a chief South Korean delegate in inter-Korean talks before. It complained about Chang Choong-sik, the former president of the South Korean Red Cross, who led the inter-Korean Red Cross talks in November 2000. Mr. Chang subsequently resigned in December 2000.

North Korea watchers said the North was merely venting its frustration with Mr. Hong's straightforward negotiating style. The career diplomat stressed reciprocity and denounced the North's intransigence and brinkmanship.

On Tuesday, when the talks showed signs of breaking down because of the North's insistence that economic talks be held at Mount Geumgang instead of in Seoul, Mr. Hong packed his bags despite orders from Seoul to extend the talks another day.

Sources close to Mr. Hong said he felt that South Korea had yielded as much as it could on the issue of Seoul's heightened security alert. South Korea had agreed to formally express its "regret" that the state of readiness had harmed its relations with the North. North Korea had reportedly agreed to hold the seventh ministerial talks in Seoul in exchange for the public statement of regret, but backed out at the last minute.

by Lee Young-jong