From the Joong Ang Daily:
Seoul gives its blessing to view North’s festival
July 21, 2006-The Roh administration said yesterday it would allow a private delegation to participate in North Korea’s celebration of Liberation Day, the August 15 anniversary of Japan’s surrender in 1945. It will also allow South Koreans to attend the annual Arirang Festival that begins the same day and runs for two months.
The festival is widely seen by critics as an extended paean of praise to Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder and leader until his death in 1994.
Lee Jong-seok, the unification minister, told a news conference yesterday that non-governmental exchanges such as those for the holiday and the festival would go ahead “according to procedures.” He said no decision had yet been made on whether Seoul would send an official delegation to participate in the North’s Liberation Day rites.
After the press conference, a Unification Ministry official said permission to travel to North Korea would be given to all comers except for those barred by law from traveling there. The latter group once included those convicted of National Security Law violations or those under investigation for alleged violations of that anti-communist statute; now, only those involved in a current criminal investigation of any kind are barred.
Tensions in the region escalated rapidly after North Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5. Ministerial talks a week later collapsed after Seoul refused to continue providing material aid, and the latest sign of tension came yesterday when Pyong-yang, following through on an earlier threat, told Hyundai Asan to repatriate 150 workers from the construction site at Mount Kumgang for a separated family reunion center.
The work, funded by Seoul, was scheduled to be completed in June 2007 at a cost of 50 billion won ($53 million). North Korea’s Red Cross told its counterpart in the South earlier this week that if rice and fertilizer stopped flowing north, the family reunions could not be held.
The decision to allow civilians to travel for the festivities is in line with Seoul’s expressed intention to keep channels with the North open, but critics said darkly that North Korea was certain to abuse that good will.
At the failed inter-Korean talks last week, Pyongyang demanded that Seoul end its restrictions on where South Koreans in the North can travel. It wanted those visitors to be able to visit what it called “holy places and landmarks,” a reference not to religion but to the cult surrounding Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-il, his father’s successor as the country’s leader. Those “holy places” include Kumususan Memorial Palace, where Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum is located.
Critics also saw a train wreck, in their view, in North Korea’s contention at the recent Busan ministerial meeting that South Koreans are being protected by North Korea’s “military-first” policy. The Arirang Festival performances in recent years have been heavy in praising that policy, and some of those allegedly “protected,” they say, will be in attendance.
by Lee Young-jong, Ser Myo-ja
