[NYT/07/13] North Korea Faults South in Death of Tourist and Rejects Talks Offer

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By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: July 13, 2008

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea blamed South Korea for the death of a South Korean tourist last week, and rejected an offer by President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea offer to resume dialogue as “a laughable cheap trick.”

“It contains nothing new,” the North’s main state-run newspaper, Rodong, said of Mr. Lee’s offer in a commentary carried on a North Korean Web site. “He is repeating what his underlings had been trumpeting.”

The commentary said Mr. Lee’s proposal was “not worth our consideration” because it lacked a firm South Korean commitment to be bound by the summit agreements reached between Lee’s predecessors and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il — accords the North accused Mr. Lee of flouting.

The North’s strident posture, coupled with the standoff over the shooting death, signaled a prolonged chill in inter-Korean relations.

Also on Sunday, South Korea issued a statement declaring that the killing of the woman “cannot be justified under any circumstances” and urging the North to cooperate in an investigation.

“If we don’t investigate this tragic incident thoroughly, it will throw cold water on people’s expectations to improve inter-Korean relations through dialogue,” the statement said. “The North needs to take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”

Mr. Lee had proposed the resumption of the stalled talks on Friday despite learning of the shooting just 90 minutes before his speech.

North Korea has refused to permit South Korean officials to enter to investigate the shooting.

“The responsibility for the incident entirely rests with the South side,” the government bureau that oversees the Kumgang resort said in a statement, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The tourist, Park Wang-ja, had been a guest at the resort near Diamond Mountain, a tourism zone at the southeastern tip of North Korea.

The North Korean agency said in its statement that Ms. Park was killed after she “intruded deep” into the military zone and ignored repeated orders to stop, and warning shots.

The statement expressed regret over the death, but it also demanded that South Korea “make a clear apology.”

The shooting and the North Korean response clouded the offer by Mr. Lee to resume a dialogue and provide humanitarian aid to North Korea.

What could have been considered a bold initiative, an unexpected policy reversal intended to thaw the chill in inter-Korean relations, was quickly overwhelmed by furor.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/world/asia/13korea.html?scp=3&sq=korea&st=nyt