Kim Jong-il death: Seoul 'showing no hostility'

North Korean state media say the population
is grieving for long-time leader Kim Jong-il

South Korea says it is trying to show no hostility towards Pyongyang, calling a return to stability in the communist state in the interests of the region.

President Lee Myung-bak made the comments in a meeting with top lawmakers, Yonhap news agency said.
Seoul is also sending its top nuclear negotiator to Beijing for talks on the situation in North Korea following the death of leader Kim Jong-il.
Meanwhile, North Korean state media continues to report mass grieving.
Mr Kim died on Saturday of a heart attack, state media reported.
The 69-year-old had led North Korea since the death of his father in 1994 and an elaborate personality cult, involving multiple stories of alleged miracles or astonishing deeds, has been built up around him.
On Wednesday state media said more than five million people had already turned out to pay their respects.
Even nature is mourning, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday. A snowstorm hit as Mr Kim died and ice on a volcanic lake near his reported birthplace cracked. A crane is also said to have adopted a posture of grief in one northern city.
'Flexibility' State media have called on North Koreans to unite behind his designated heir, youngest son Kim Jong-un, who is being called the "Great Successor".
Observers fear that because the transfer of power from father to son had not been formalised before Mr Kim's death, it could trigger instability. Regional neighbours are keenly watching events in the internationally-isolated nuclear-armed state.
South Korea, which remains technically at war with its northern neighbour following the 1950-153 Korean War, put its military on a state of alert after Mr Kim's death was announced.

North Korea

• Population about 23 million
• One million-strong army thought to be world's fifth largest
• Manufacturing output mainly geared to military's demands
• Daily life strictly controlled by government
• Food shortages, power cuts, poor infrastructure

But it has also scrapped a plan to light controversial Christmas lights that anger North Korea on the border, and offered "sympathies" over the death.

"The measures we have taken so far are basically aimed at showing North Korea we are not hostile toward the North," Yonhap news agency quoted Mr Lee as saying on Thursday.
"An early stabilisation of North Korea's system is in the interests of neighbouring countries," he said. "On future relations with North Korea, there is room for exercising as much flexibility as possible. We will discuss the matter with all political parties."
Ties between the two Koreas have been very tense in recent months, following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010 and the shelling of a border island in November 2010.
North Korea denies a role in the first incident and says Seoul provoked the second.
Relations have also been hit by Mr Lee's refusal to offer aid to Pyongyang without progress on the nuclear issue.
South Korea's nuclear envoy, Lim Sung-nam, is heading to Beijing to discuss how stalled six-nation talks aimed at denuclearising North Korea should be tackled in the wake of Mr Kim's death.
South Korean media have also accused Beijing of failing to communicate with Seoul since the announcement came.

Source BBC

Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics,Society