South Korea: Open in principle to summit talks with DPRK

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that she was open, in principle, to summit talks with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), indicating a conciliatory gesture to improve relations between the two Koreas. "I have a position that I can meet ( with Kim Jong Un) at any time, if necessary, for the development of inter-Korean relations or peace on the Korean Peninsula," Park said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro that was published on Saturday, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. Regarding her remarks, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui- do told reporters Monday that Park unveiled her position, in principle, about holding summit talks with the DPRK leader, noting that the South Korean government was not mulling a change in its policy toward Pyongyang. Seoul's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told lawmakers last Friday that the government was weighing various considerations about lifting the so-called May 24 measures against the DPRK, boosting expectations for a shift in Seoul's policy toward Pyongyang. South Korea imposed the May 24 sanctions, which have virtually prevented an expansion of economic exchange between the two Koreas, against the DPRK in 2010 after the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sank in waters near a western sea border with the DPRK. The Seoul-led multinational investigation team said that it was a torpedo attack by Pyongyang, but the DPRK has repeatedly denied its involvement in the incident, in which 46 South Koran sailors aboard were killed. Touching on the Ryoo's comments, spokesman Kim said that the government was not reviewing the lifting of the sanctions right now.