DPRK's conciliatory moves ease tensions on Korean Peninsula

by Zhang Binyang

PYONGYANG, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in recent weeks has made a series of conciliatory moves toward the United States and South Korea.

The delegation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) led by Kim Ki-nam (R2), a Workers' Party Central Committee secretary most frequently included in DPRK's leader Kim Jong-il's entourage in public activities, pay respects to South Korean late president Kim Dae-jung in Seoul, capital of South Korea, Aug. 21, 2009. The six-member delegation arrived here on Friday and headed straight to a memorial altar set up for ex-president Kim at the National Assembly.(Xinhua/Newsis)

That's after months of tensions on the divided Korean peninsula aroused by the DPRK's nuclear and missile tests.

The easing of tension began when former U.S. President Bill Clinton paid a surprise visit to Pyongyang in early August to win the release of two detained American journalists.

After that trip, DPRK diplomats at the United Nations requested a meeting with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has visited Pyongyang several times in the past.

The DPRK is sending good signals that it's ready to talk directly to the United States, Richardson said on the CNN.

"They felt that the President Clinton visit was good, that it helped thaw relations, make them easier," he said.

A visit to Pyongyang by Hyun Jung-eun, the chairwoman of the South Korean Hyundai Group, on Aug. 10 helped free a South Korean worker detained by the DPRK for nearly five months.