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SEOUL: South Korea said Monday it would try to calm cross-border tensions at an upcoming meeting with North Korea in what would be their first direct non-military contact for more than a year.
But the Seoul government gave no indication whether it would postpone plans to join an international anti-proliferation exercise.
Pyongyang, a leading exporter of missiles in recent years, has said joining the drill would be seen as a declaration of war by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
"The Lee group of traitors should never forget that Seoul is just 50 kilometres (31 miles) away" from the border, the North's military spokesman said Saturday, suggesting it is vulnerable to attack.
The North cut all direct contact with Lee's conservative government last year in protest at its tougher line on cross-border relations.
It has now offered to hold talks Tuesday about the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial estate just north of the border, but has given no hint what it plans to say.
Some analysts say the North is likely to warn that the Kaesong estate will be shut down if Seoul joins the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to curb trade in weapons of mass destruction.
A South Korean employee at Kaesong has been held since March 30 for allegedly criticising the North's communist regime and trying to persuade a local woman worker to defect.
A Seoul official quoted by Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the North may shut access to the estate until South Korea apologises for the alleged activities.
Inter-Korean ties have been icy for the past year. Regional tensions are also rising after the North's purported satellite launch on April 5, widely seen overseas as a disguised missile test.
Pyongyang, angry at UN censure of the launch, has announced it is quitting nuclear disarmament talks and restarting its atomic weapons programme. It has also expelled US and UN nuclear inspectors.
"The government will try to make the inter-Korean contact helpful to the safety of our citizens... and the stable development of the Kaesong industrial complex," said Kim Ho-Nyoun, spokesman for Seoul's unification ministry which handles cross-border tries.
He said a seven-strong delegation would travel Tuesday morning to the estate.
Kim reiterated Seoul's position that PSI is not aimed at Pyongyang, saying it does not target a specific nation.
"The government makes it clear that it is separate from inter-Korean relations and it is not a declaration of confrontation, or of a war."
Kaesong opened in 2005 as a symbol of reconciliation but its operations have often been hit by political tensions.
In December the North restricted border crossings and expelled hundreds of South Korean managers from the zone.
- AFP/yb
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