(3rd LD) N. Korea lifts border traffic restrictions in latest olive branch toward

(ATTN: response from S. Korean companies operating in Kaesong in para 10)
By Kim Hyun, Tony Chang
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Thursday it is lifting the
cross-border traffic restrictions it has imposed since December to protest
Seoul's hardline policy, officials said, in its latest conciliatory gesture
toward the South.

The announcement came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed to remove
obstacles to "energize" inter-Korean business ventures in a meeting with South
Korea's Hyundai Group chairwoman, Hyun Jeong-eun.
In a faxed message, North Korea announced it will "withdraw the important measure
taken on Dec. 1 with regard to the land passage over the Military Demarcation
Line as of Aug. 21," a high-level official of Seoul's Unification Ministry said
in a background briefing.
Such a measure was not yet officially reported by North Korean media.
Protesting the Lee Myung-bak government's conservative stance, North Korea took a
string of retaliatory measures that mainly affected South Korean businesses
operating at a joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong.
The so-called "Important Measure" drastically reduced the number of times South
Koreans and their cargo trucks could cross the border to three times a day. The
number of South Koreans allowed to stay in Kaesong was also cut to 880, and
hundred of others were forced to leave or visit with daily permits.
Such restrictions strained business activity at the Kaesong park, where more than
100 South Korean firms operate with about 40,000 North Korean workers. The joint
park is an outcome of the historic first inter-Korean summit between then
President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.
North Korea said the new measure is effective from Friday, but the Seoul official
expected its implementation will take about a week because of "technical issues"
governing border traffic.
"It would not solve all problems, but help give some relief to our businesses
operating at the Kaesong park," the official said.
South Korean companies operating in the inter-Korean industrial zone welcomed
North Korea's measure, saying they expect Pyongyang to take more measures to help
their operations go smoothly.
North Korea also said it will restore a Red Cross contact channel at the truce
village of Panmunjom for its delegation set to visit Seoul. It did not clarify
whether the restoration would be permanent or effective only during the
delegation's two-day stay, the official said.
The six-member North Korean delegation, led by a top party secretary, will arrive
here Friday to pay tribute to the late President Kim Dae-jung.
The Red Cross channel, mainly used as an official contact line between the two
Koreas, was severed around the same time the border traffic restrictions were
imposed.
Thursday's announcement is the latest conciliatory gesture from North Korea. It
invited the Hyundai chairwoman last week and released a Hyundai employee who had
been detained there since March for criticizing its political system.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the Hyundai chief agreed to resume a string
of joint tourism ventures and lift restrictions. The agreement, made public
Monday, said the two sides will "energize the operation of the Kaesong Industrial
Zone as the land passage through MDL is put on a normal basis."
Earlier in the day, South Korea proposed inter-Korean talks to resume reunions of
families separated by the Korean War, which were suspended about two years ago.
Inter-Korean relations rapidly chilled after Lee came to power in February last
year, taking a tougher stance on North Korea's nuclear program and suspending
massive unconditional aid to the impoverished state.
sam@yna.co.kr
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