2 Koreas discuss more economic cooperation

Food, energy crises are at top of agenda

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Dec 29, 2000

Abstract: In the opening session, North Korea proposed that the first topic should be its earlier request for 500,000 kilowatts of electricity from South Korea, South Korean pool reports said. South Korean officials in Seoul said the meeting is unlikely to reach agreement on the request. Other items on the agenda in Pyongyang include reconnecting a cross-border railway, building an industrial complex in the North close to the border with South Korea and jointly erecting a dam on a river shared by the Koreas to prevent flooding, pool reports said. Meanwhile, North Korea failed to respond to a South Korean proposal to hold a military dialogue yesterday at the border village of Panmunjom.

Full Text: SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea and electricity-starved North Korea opened three days of talks in the North's capital yesterday on ways of boosting economic cooperation.

The talks, the first high-level government dialogue between the sides to focus solely on economic matters, came as South Korean officials said yesterday that 307 North Koreans defected to the South this year, more than double the 148 who fled the hunger-stricken Communist state last year.

The isolated Stalinist North's food shortages are so severe that its own government has admitted that at least 220,000 people have died of hunger since 1995.

South Korean Vice Finance and Economy Minister Lee Jung-jae and his aides arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday for the talks. The North Korean delegation was led by Pak Chang Ryon, vice chairman of the national planning committee.

In the opening session, North Korea proposed that the first topic should be its earlier request for 500,000 kilowatts of electricity from South Korea, South Korean pool reports said. South Korean officials in Seoul said the meeting is unlikely to reach agreement on the request.

North Korea's energy shortage is believed to be severe. Power failures are common even in Pyongyang, and travelers have reported seeing public buildings and homes without heating and electricity in winter.

In 1994, a U.S.-led consortium agreed to build nuclear reactors in North Korea in exchange for the North's freezing its suspect nuclear weapons program. Completion of the first light-water reactor had been scheduled for 2003, but delays have pushed back the date by several years.

Other items on the agenda in Pyongyang include reconnecting a cross-border railway, building an industrial complex in the North close to the border with South Korea and jointly erecting a dam on a river shared by the Koreas to prevent flooding, pool reports said.

Meanwhile, North Korea failed to respond to a South Korean proposal to hold a military dialogue yesterday at the border village of Panmunjom.

After a third round of working-level military talks last week, Seoul had proposed holding another round to discuss cooperation for building the railway and a four-lane highway across the sides' heavily fortified border. The North gave no explanation for its failure to respond.