North Koreans Placate South Conciliatory Statement Expresses ‘Regret’ For Submarine Incursion

In an unprecedented sign of its yearning to improve its relations with the rest of the world, North Korea expressed “deep regret” Sunday for sending a submarine full of armed commandos into South Korean waters and for the subsequent “tragic loss of human life.” It promised not to take similar actions again.

By North Korea’s truculent standards, the statement was an astonishing sign of contrition. It opens the way to resume dialogue that American officials hope eventually will bring lasting peace to the Korean peninsula.

The submarine episode, in which a 106-foot-long North Korean spy submarine landed on a South Korean beach in September and 26 armed infiltrators sneaked ashore, raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level in years. It also threw into question the 1994 agreement under which North Korea gave up its suspected nuclear-weapons program, and it threw into doubt American plans to engage North Korea and bring it out of its isolation.

South Korean troops killed some of the armed commandos who sneaked ashore.

“This is a major breakthrough to put inter-Korean relations back on track,” a South Korean official said Sunday.

The North Korean statement was worked out in negotiations in New York between a senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official, Li Hyong Chol, and a U.S. State Department official, Mark Minton. The essence of the process was twisting North Korea’s arm into making as contrite a statement as possible and twisting South Korea’s arm into accepting it.

The efforts apparently worked, for South Korean officials left no doubt that they accept what they termed an apology.

“The North Korean statement is one that the people of the Republic of Korea can accept because it recognizes the incident, apologizes and promises to prevent a recurrence,” Foreign Minister Yoo Chong Ha told South Korean television Sunday.

President Clinton issued a statement: “I am pleased that Pyongyang has pledged to prevent the recurrence of such an incident and has expressed its willingness to work with others for durable peace and stability on the peninsula. This is a significant development, which I hope will contribute to the reduction of tensions on the Korean peninsula.”

The South Korean government accepted the North’s statement, even though it fell short of the conditions set by President Kim Young Sam. He had demanded an actual apology to South Korea as well as a promise not to do such a thing again.