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By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

The South Korean government dismissed the “important proposal” of North Korea’s National Defense Commission on Jan. 17 because of doubts about Pyongyang’s sincerity. Seoul believes that the North is waging a camouflaged “peace offensive.” In fact, government officials even disparaged North Korea’s proposal, labeling it as “distortion of the facts and absurd claims, intended to manipulate public opinion.”

Experts believe that the South reacted in this way because Pyongyang made an offer that would be difficult for it to accept.

“If North Korea truly wished to ease inter-Korean tensions, it would have made a more practical offer, such as calling for talks with the South, instead of asking for US-ROK military exercises to be canceled, an offer that is impossible for the South to agree to,” said a senior official at the South’s Unification Ministry on condition of anonymity.

There is a sense in which North Korea caused South Korea to respond in this fashion. In the telephone message sent to the Unification Ministry on the afternoon of the previous day, North Korea provoked the South by using harsh language, saying that, if the US-ROK military drills went ahead, there would be nothing but “ruin and destruction for inter-Korean relations.” And then, only one day later, the North made its “important proposal,” offering to take the first steps to reduce its military activities. This could naturally lead to doubts about the sincerity of Pyongyang’s proposal.

But from a broader perspective, this response could appear myopic. North Korea has been calling for improvements in inter-Korean relations since the beginning of the year, and this proposal must be seen as a continuation of this, observers say. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, now in his third year in power, is putting the most emphasis on improving the livelihoods of the North Korean people, and cooperating at home and abroad and easing tensions on the Korean peninsula are essential for achieving this.

“When we look at the behavior that the North has taken this year, it does not seem reasonable to regard this offer as an attack in disguise,” another senior South Korean government official said on condition of anonymity. “It appears that the North wants to ease tensions with the South.”

The Seoul government’s attitude is very inflexible, too, and it has been quick to ask the North for action rather than words. The government demanded that the North take responsibility for past provocations such as the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and to take immediate steps to stop its nuclear program and move toward denuclearization. In addition, the government insists that the issue of the families divided by the Korean War is “purely humanitarian” and is asking the North to unconditionally accept the South’s proposal for reunions of divided families.

“North Korea has been making offers from a position of unprecedented humility,” said Kim Geun-sik, professor at Kyungnam University. “The South’s attitude, on the other hand, is very inflexible. The North is offering only to shake hands, but the South wants them to give a written promise.”

With the South Korean government’s rejection of North Korea’s “important proposal,” the chilly relations between North and South are expected to continue for the time being. The tug-of-war over the divided family reunions and the resumption of tourism to Mt. Keumgang continues as well. But now that it is clear what both sides are demanding, it appears that inter-Korean relations will be decided by the attitudes that North and South adopt in the future.

While proposing that both sides stop slandering each other from Jan. 30, North Korea promised to take practical steps to avoid hostile military behavior. In regard to the issue of its nuclear program, Pyongyang also emphasized that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is the shared objective of the Korean people. It appears that the nature of South Korea’s reaction will be decided according to what specific actions North Korea takes in regard to these proposals.

The big question for South Korea is on what scale it will proceed with the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military exercises with the US, a source of major resentment for the North. Using the expression “respectfully suggest,” North Korea requested that the US and South Korea not bring in tactical nuclear weapons and advanced weapons technology.

“The crux of North Korea’s recent ‘important proposal’ was the cessation of hostile military activities, in other words the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises,” said Jeong Chang-hyeon, adjunct professor at Kookmin University. “Considering that canceling the exercises is practically impossible, the important thing is how much sincerity South Korea shows.”

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