See any resemblance with the release of two American journalists last week?
August 14, 2009
By CHOE SANG-HUN
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Thursday released a South Korean worker it had held for several months on charges of denouncing its political system, signaling what analysts called a desire by the North to ease relations with the South after months of tensions over its nuclear weapons program.
The South Korean worker, Yoo Seong-jin, 44, was handed over to South Korean officials in Kaesong, a North Korean border town where the two Koreas run a joint industrial park. The man crossed the border and was reunited with his family later Thursday.
“I am glad that I have safely returned home,” Mr. Yoo said, thanking the government for helping secure his release. He did not answer questions from a crowd of reporters who waited near the border for his arrival.
Mr. Yoo, a technician for the Hyundai Group, was detained on March 30 by the North Korean authorities, who accused him of denouncing the North Korean government and trying to persuade a North Korean woman working at Kaesong to defect to the South. During his detention, he was not allowed to talk to South Korean officials.
Mr. Yoo’s release removes an obstacle in inter-Korean relations. It came a week after the North freed two American journalists it had held since mid-March on charges of illegal entry and committing hostile acts against the government.
North Korea released the two journalists after former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang, the capital, and met the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.
Hyun Jung-eun, the head of the Hyundai Group, South Korea’s biggest corporate investor in the North, visited Pyongyang to negotiate Mr. Yoo’s release, and Mr. Yoo was freed during her visit. It remained unclear whether Ms. Hyun had met Mr. Kim during the negotiations.
The North is still holding four South Korean fishermen whose boat was seized two weeks ago after it had strayed into North Korean waters.
Analysts have said that North Korea is using the visits by Mr. Clinton and Ms. Hyun to re-establish contacts with Washington and Seoul in hopes of undermining the impact of United Nations sanctions imposed after its nuclear test on May 25.
By inviting the Hyundai chief to Pyongyang, North Korea signaled its willingness to revive private business exchanges with South Korea, a crucial source of hard currency for the government, said Chun Hyun-joon, an analyst at the government-financed Korea Research Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
“It still is too early to say that this will lead to a resumption of official dialogue between the two sides,” Mr. Chun added.
Even before the nuclear test, inter-Korean relations had been at their lowest in years. President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul vowed not to ship any aid to the North unless it made tangible progress in dismantling its nuclear weapons program. The North responded by curtailing border traffic and suspending Hyundai’s business taking South Korean tourists to Kaesong.
North Korea has alternated between conciliatory steps and moves that raise tension.
Mr. Lee is preparing to address the nation on Saturday, the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The day has traditionally served as an occasion for South Korean leaders to make overtures toward the North.
