Lonely Lim finds no one to talk to

South Korea's special presidential envoy to North Korea was a lonely man Thursday, the second day of his visit to Pyeongyang, with no one to talk to. The meetings Lim Dong-won, the envoy, had expected with North Korean leaders had not taken place by early evening.

A mood of stalemate was set in the first round of meetings between Mr. Lim and Kim Yong-sun, the North's Workers' Party secretary, on Wednesday. The North Korean delegation demanded that the South abandon its policy of identifying the communist regime as Seoul's "main enemy," according to South Korean government sources and the North Korea's state media.

In working-level military negotiations and ministerial talks last year, North Korea repeatedly demanded that Seoul scrap the "main enemy" designation out of respect for the June 15, 2000, inter-Korean Joint Declaration. In that agreement, produced by the summit meeting of President Kim Dae-jung and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the leaders of the two Koreas pledged that "the South and the North have agreed to resolve the question of reunification independently and through the joint efforts of the Korean people."

The two chief delegates were scheduled to meet again Thursday to discuss the North's development of weapons of mass destruction and measures to implement inter-Korean agreements, but no meeting was held.

Mr. Lim also had hoped to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday, but that meeting did not take place, either.

Instead of the scheduled talks, Kim Bo-hyun, of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, and Kim Wan-su, of North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, tried to adjust differences of opinion throughout the morning and afternoon, but found no common ground.

"Contrary to our expectation, the North has been taking a stiff attitude and the peace talks are proceeding with difficulty," a top South Korean government official said. "We have a gloomy foreboding." Seoul officials are flustered by the North's unexpected demand, since Pyeongyang in recent months has been directing its criticism toward the Bush administration rather than Seoul.

North Korea watchers in Seoul suggested that the North played the "main enemy" card of because Mr. Lim had urged Pyeongyang to begin dialogues with Washington and Tokyo promptly to resolve nuclear and missile issues.

As the inter-Korean talks have bogged down, the special envoy and his aides may need to stay another day in the North, North Korea watchers and government sources predicted.

by Lee Young-jong