*** INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS

Ruling Party Considers Inter-Korean Youth Exchanges As Campaign Promise

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling party is considering programs to promote youth exchanges with North Korea as a campaign promise for April's parliamentary elections, officials said on Feb. 3, a move seen as softening the party's hard-line stance on the North.

   The Saenuri Party, formerly the Grand National Party, recently changed its policy platform and promised to take a more conciliatory approach to the North goes through a leadership change following the death of leader Kim Jong-il in mid-December.

   "The party is deliberating measures to establish direct communication channels between youngsters in South and North Korea," a party official in charge of crafting campaign pledges said. "It is important that young people have an objective perception of the reality in the North and the concept of peaceful reunification."

   There are no direct means of contact between the general public in the two Koreas, which remain divided by a heavily fortified border after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

   The party is also seeking to resume family reunions of those separated by the war as time is running short for the mostly elderly family members, according to officials. The last round of family reunions was held in 2010.

   The party is also considering expanding humanitarian aid to the North.

  
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Instability Factor Remains in North Korea: Unification Minister

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Despite its perceived external stability, North Korea appears to have a remaining instability factor following the death of Kim Jong-il in December, Seoul's unification minister said on Feb. 6.

   The assessment came as North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, appears to be concentrating efforts to consolidate the power he inherited from his father, Kim Jong-il.

   The new leader inspected 10 military units and other military-related fields out of 15 public appearances since December, Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said, the latest sign that Kim will uphold his father's cherished military-first, or Songun, politics that channeled the country's scarce resources to the military.

   Military support is seen as crucial for the untested young leader in tightening his grip on power.

   "In appearances, the North seems to be maintaining stability, though it has not yet completely remove an instability factor," Yu told lawmakers at the National Assembly, without elaborating.

   Yu said the North has not overcome chronic economic and other problems as it continues to make efforts to build a personality cult around the new leader and his late father.

   North Korean officials and troops have pledged their allegiance to the young leader, the supreme commander of the country's 1.1 million-strong military.

   The North has also made efforts to boost production of light industries and agriculture, Yu said.

   The impoverished country has vowed to usher in a prosperous and powerful nation by this year that would mark the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

  
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Seoul Opposes Meeting between Inter-Korean Civilian Group

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean issues on Feb. 7 opposed a plan that leaders of the South's civilian group meet with it's North Korean counterpart in China.

   The South Side Committee for implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration plans to meet the North Side Committee on Feb. 9-10 in Shenyang, China, to discuss events to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the declaration, which was adopted at the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000.

   Concerning the reason why the plan is opposed, the Unification Ministry said it was because a bilateral meeting of the two committees could develop into a political issue.

   However, Lee Seung-hwan, co-chairperson of the South's committee, said, "Despite the government's disapproval, we internally decided to go ahead with our original plan."

   "Although we admit that the South's committee has some political color, our contacts with the North could help inter-Korean relations," he added.

   The South's committee first suggested to the North that they meet on Jan. 27. In response, the North added its own revisions to the plan.

   On Jan. 31, the North's committee proposed to increase joint activities between inter-Korean civic groups to mark the 12th anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration in an appeal adopted at a meeting in Pyongyang.

  
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S. Korea Proposes inter-Korean Talks on Pest Control at N.K. Ancient Tombs

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea has proposed holding working-level talks with North Korea later February on joint pest control near ancient tombs in the North, an official said Wednesday, in an apparent bid to help ease lingering tension on the divided Korean Peninsula.

   The offer was delivered to the North on Feb. 7 via the border village of Panmunjom, which separates the two Koreas, the official from the Unification Ministry said.

   The North told the South through a Panmunjom channel it has not received a reply from Pyongyang, the official said.

   The move came a week after Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said Seoul was considering providing support to the North for effective pest control near the ancient tombs, which also have historical significance to South Korea.

   The Complex of Koguryo tombs, located in the North's cities of Pyongyang and Nampho, consists of 30 individual tombs from the late period of the Koguryo Kingdom, which controlled the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China for more than 700 years until 668 A.D.

   The relics, along with murals inside the tombs, became the first UNESCO World Heritage site in the communist North in 2004, in recognition of their historical and aesthetic value.

   In January, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said it will help North Korea eradicate pests in forests near the ancient tombs.

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