The article is very sketchy, but Bloomberg is
reporting that 'South Korea's government won't agree to any
significant economic initiatives with North Korea until the issue
over its nuclear weapons is resolved, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Trade Ban Ki Moon said in Seoul [on Feb 16].'
South Korea Won't Cooperate Economically With North
(Update3).
the article points out that the ROK is developing several large
projects in the North, but doesn't say whether work on them will be
suspended:
South Korea has an engagement policy toward North
Korea, which has resulted in inter-Korean road and rail links for
the first time in half a century, construction of an industrial
complex in North Korea's Gaesong city, just 60 kilometers (37
miles) north of Seoul, as well as an eight-year-old tourism complex
in Mt. Geumgang on North Korea's east coast.
An ROK presidential spokesman is quoted:
"North Korea must return to the negotiations and say
what it wants to say and resolve this problem rationally through
in-depth discussions," presidential spokesman Kim Jong Min quoted
Roh as saying at a meeting with his security ministers and advisers
today in Seoul.
Nothing on whether the Unification Ministry was represented at the
meeting. Ban Ki Moon denied discussing sanctions with US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington.
The coordinated responses by the US, ROK and Japan (are the PRC and
Russia next?) are of much greater importance than Josh Howard,
Eason Jordan, Michael Jackson or Jeff Gannon.