A South Korean woman held in North Korea for allegedly trying to encourage possible defectors was interrogated yesterday, as the North stayed away from talks with the South in China.
North Korean officials interrogated Ms Min Yong-Mi (36), a tourist, in a hotel room following her detention last Sunday on suspicion of being an agent attempting to lure North Koreans to the South, her tour operator said.
"So far there has been no progress in securing (Ms Min's) release," said a spokesman for Hyundai Group, which has organised the North Korean tours. "The North Koreans say they need more time to investigate her case. They are still questioning her," he added.
Seoul's Yonhap news agency quoted intelligence sources as saying the North Korean authorities were pressing Ms Min to sign a confession.
A senior executive of Hyundai, which initiated the high-profile cruise project to North Korea last November, left Seoul yesterday for China for talks with North Korean officials on securing Ms Min's release.
But the South Korean Unification Minister, Mr Lim Dong-Won, was optimistic that she would be soon freed. "We will maintain the ban on the tour project until this problem is settled," he told parliament. "But, judging from various indications, I don't think North Korea will detain her for a long time."
Mr Lim also ruled out paying any ransom money to the North in return for the freedom of Ms Min, who was on a cruise boat tour to the North's Mount Kumgang.
Meanwhile, talks on reuniting Koreans separated during the Korean War nearly 50 years ago were suspended in Beijing.
A South Korean government official in Beijing said there had been no word from the North Korean delegation since it halted the talks to seek "orders" from Pyongyang. "There has been nothing yet (from North Korea)," the official said, a day after the North Korea's official media said it would boycott the talks until Seoul apologised for the last week's gun battle in the Yellow Sea in which a North Korean vessel was sunk.