Two Koreas approaching agreement

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Posted 8:01AM on Friday, April 5, 2002

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North and South Korea were close to agreement Friday on reviving programs meant to bring the divided nations closer after decades of animosity, South Korean officials said. An envoy sent north to jump-start the stalled reconciliation process made progress in a meeting late Thursday with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il, and the sides were close to a deal to resume economic cooperation and reunions of separated family members, officials said. ``Both sides are near agreement on several issues, including family reunions and economic cooperation,'' said Kim Hong-je, a spokesman for the South Korea's Unification Ministry, which oversees matters related to relations with the North. As officials haggled Friday over details of the agreement, the envoy, Lim Dong-won, extended his stay in Pyongyang by one day and planned to return to the South with his delegation on Saturday, the South Korean spokesman said. ``Despite some difficulties, we have begun making progress, and both sides will be able to make a joint statement,'' he said. The nations were divided in 1945. About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. Millions of Koreans remain separated from their relatives, many of them elderly. Inter-Korean relations warmed after a historic summit between their leaders in 2000, enabling reunions of hundreds of families. But that stopped when relations cooled again amid increasing tension between North Korea and the United States. The South Korean spokesman said the agreement with the North would call for the two Koreas to reactivate an inter-Korean governmental committee that was set up in 2000 to handle economic cooperation and exchanges. The first business of the committee is expected to be South Korean economic aid. South Korea has expressed willingness to give the impoverished North 300,000 tons of free food and 200,000 tons of fertilizer. South Korea also is eager to resume work on reconnecting a cross-border rail line that was cut off just before the start of the Korean War. Re-linking the line is a key part of the 2000 summit agreement. South Korea has completed work on the rail line on its side of the border. North Korea stopped work early last year amid tension with the United States. The South Korean envoy urged North Korea to start talks with Washington as well as Seoul to address concern about its development of missiles and other weapons, South Korea officials said. But there was no word on the North's response. In the final months of President Clinton's administration, U.S.-North Korea ties improved considerably. Secretary of State Madeline Albright visited Pyongyang and held talks with the North Korean leader. President Bush in January called North Korea part of ``an axis of evil'' countries - along with Iran and Iraq - with ambitions to develop weapons of mass destruction. The North is believed to have 5,000 tons of chemical weapons as well as missiles capable of reaching the western United States. During a visit to South Korea in February, Bush said his view of North Korea had not changed but renewed an offer to start talks with North Korea. Pyongyang rejected it.