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Teachers from South, North Korea to meet amid strained relations
SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- Leaders of a South Korean teachers' union left for North Korea on Wednesday for a three-day meeting with their northern counterparts, hoping to boost cooperation amid strained ties between the two countries.
"This is a tough situation, but if we have a will, passion and the educational conscience to leave a unified country to our children, no obstacles will stop this meeting," said Hyun In-cheol, spokesman for the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union.
The 20-member delegation led by the union's leader Jung Jin-hwa travelled by land to the North's scenic resort at Mount Geumgang, where they will meet with leaders of the Korean Educational and Cultural Workers Trade Union on Thursday. The two sides will exchange views on how to enhance school education on inter-Korean issues and deal with Japanese history textbook distortions over Japan's wrongdoing in the early 20th century, the union said.
The teachers' meeting comes amid strained ties between Seoul and Pyongyang since the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration took office in late February. The North has unleashed verbal attacks against Lee since April, as his administration took a tougher stance over North Korea's human rights situations and nuclear programs than his liberal predecessors.
Amid the chilly relations, the more conservative teachers' umbrella union in the South, the General Federation of Teachers Organizations, said it decided not to participate in the meeting.
Teachers from the two countries held their first official meeting in 2005 amid warming ties under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. This week's meeting is the second of the kind.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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