AN unprecedented apology by North Korea for September's incursion by a spy submarine could lead the way to a series of diplomatic deals on nuclear reactors, food aid and eventual talks between the two Koreas, according to envoys in New York and Washington.
North Korea apologised for the first time yesterday for an intrusion by one of its submarines into South Korea on September 18th. It expressed "deep regret" in a statement hammered out with US diplomats.
US and North Korean officials have been negotiating the wording of an apology in New York since December 9th. The US still has more than 30,000 soldiers in South Korea as a legacy of the Korean War at the start of the 1950s.
"We welcome the North Korean statement of regret and we hope that it paves the way for a reduction of tensions on the peninsula," a US State Department spokesman said.
The statement promised no repetitions of the incident.
The apology was a major concession for North Korea, which had insisted the submarine accidentally drifted into South Korean territory. South Korea says it was on a spy mission when it broke down.
Of 26 North Korean commandos who went ashore, 24 were shot and killed, one was captured alive and one is still on the loose. Thirteen South Korean soldiers and civilians were killed during the hunt for the North Koreans.
The submarine incident had scuttled a process of engagement intended to bring North Korea out of its isolation, revamp its nuclear programme and help ease its famine.
The apology could result in a pledge from South Korea to resume construction work in the next few months on two civilian nuclear reactors in the North and a simultaneous promise from North Korea to resume canning or sealing spent nuclear fuel rods.
The South Koreans were supposed to have gone to the site in November as part of a 1994 landmark accord, in which North Korea agreed to give up its suspected atomic weapons programme in exchange for oil and a set of light water reactors.
As a result of the submarine incursion, South Korea had informally blocked further food aid to the North, suffering from famine after two consecutive years of serious flooding.
The proposed four party peace talks, involving the US, the two Koreas and China, should also be back on track after the apology.
Both Koreas had been reluctant to participate, but North Korea recently had begun moving toward accepting a "briefing" on the proposals from the US and South Korea.