South Korean president indicates tensions on peninsula are easing

South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak has indicated tensions on the peninsula were easing following a fraught several weeks.

The South Korean army's 155mm howitzers fire yesterday during a drill near the demilitarised zone that seperates the two Koreas. Lee Hae-yrong, Yonhap / AP

BEIJING // South Korea's president yesterday indicated tensions on the peninsula were easing following a fraught several weeks.

But in a New Year speech, Lee Myung-bak warned that North Korea would have to demonstrate peaceful intentions "not only with rhetoric but also with deeds".

"I remind the North that the path toward peace is yet open. The door for dialogue is still open," he said in a live broadcast reported by the government-affiliated Yonhap news agency.

Following domestic anger over the late November shelling by North Korea of the Yeonpyeong island in which four South Koreans died, Mr Lee had stiffened his public comments while his country's military carried out high-profile exercises.

The first signs Mr Lee was keen to defuse the situation came last week when he indicated stalled six-party talks should be restarted this year with the aim of dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme.

In what Yonhap said was an apparent reference to the countries involved in the six-party talks, Mr Lee yesterday said it was "imperative" for all nations involved "to play a fair and responsible role".

The talks, involving both Koreas, the US, Russia, Japan and China, have been on hold since April 2009, when Pyongyang expelled nuclear inspectors following criticism over what it said was a satellite launch, but which many countries viewed as a ballistic missile test.

Following the shelling of Yeonpyeong on November 23, China called for an emergency session of the talks, although the US, Japan and South Korea instead held their own discussion in Washington.

Although he yesterday called for dialogue with North Korea, Mr Lee said the shelling of Yeonpyeong meant the situation "cannot be the same", suggesting it was a turning point for national security. Last year also saw the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan with the loss of 46 lives, an incident widely blamed on North Korea.

"The United States went back to the drawing board [after September 11, 2001] to devise new security and national strategies, because the safety and security of its people had come under threat," he said. "From now on, we need to establish and carry out peace and reunification policies based on a solid national security."

He also said South Korea had to "engage our North Korean brethren in the long journey toward freedom and prosperity".

Mr Lee's less hardline approach to the North Korea is likely to be the result of pressure from the US, according to Paik Hak-soon, a senior fellow at the South Korean think tank, the Sejong Institute. Both China and Russia cautioned South Korea against carrying out what some saw as provocative military exercises recently, and some reports indicated the US too was concerned Seoul was stoking tensions on the peninsula through its tougher stance.

Mr Paik said just as the US may have been pressuring Seoul to calm the situation, so China has been exerting influence on Pyongyang to wind down tensions ahead of a meeting in Washington later this month between the US president, Barack Obama, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.

"The summit talks in Washington ... will agree on the absolute need to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula and begin negotiations on the denuclearisation of North Korea together with the peaceful solution of the issue of the Korean peninsula," Mr Paik said. "The South Korean government is under the influence of the US government not to increase tensions: 'Please talk to North Korea, please accept six-party talks'."

However, Mr Paik said Mr Lee's speech yesterday also indicated a reluctance to directly engage with Pyongyang.

"Even though he talks about a better relationship with the north, he's not talking to North Korea directly, but there's international pressure to talk to North Korea, so he's taking a multilateral forum, the six-party talks," Mr Paik said.