By Kang Seung-woo



President Park Geun-hye's administration shows no signs of changing its hard-line stance on North Korea, but now even some ruling party lawmakers are cautiously voicing the need for inter-Korean dialogue to defuse tension.



Their calls came after Seoul rejected North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's proposal for military talks, made at the North's rare Workers' Party Congress, citing a lack of sincerity.



"If the government wants to improve inter-Korean ties, there needs to be informal dialogue with North Korea at least," said Saenuri Party Rep. Kim Young-woo at a meeting of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee with Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, Wednesday.



"Even when North Korea attacked Cheong Wa Dae in 1968 and bombed a South Korean airplane in 1987, the two Koreas continued to hold talks. Without any informal contact between the two sides, we cannot gauge the North's intentions."



Na Kyung-Won, another Saenuri Party lawmaker who heads the committee, echoed Kim's view.



"Although I agree with the government's stance, it needs to take a more flexible approach to achieving denuclearization," she said.



Na added that currently South Korea may not have much of a say in issues related to inter-Korean relations.



"Amid ongoing chatter about peace treaty talks between North Korea and the United States, the government should pay more attention to the issue rather than just passing it off as not true," the lawmaker said.



Rep. Choung Byoung-gug also raised the need for inter-Korean dialogue, saying that sanctions are aimed at changing the North's bad behavior, not shutting the door to dialogue.



However, the government is still refusing to budge an inch from its hard-line stance.



"For now, more sanctions and pressure are needed on North Korea," Hong said in a forum organized by the Korea Future Foundation on the same day.



The United Nations (U.N.) imposed fresh sanctions on the repressive state in March for its Jan. 6 nuclear test and Feb. 7 long-range rocket launch, both of which violated U.N. sanctions already in place.



"Now is not the right time for talks," he said, adding that inter-Korean dialogue at a time like this will only allow North Korea to gain time.



While offering to engage in military talks, the North Korean leader asserted his intention to hold onto the nation's nuclear weapons in defiance of the sanctions, which resulted in the South's rebuff.



Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said the government should leave the door open to dialogue with the North as the peninsula is expected to repeatedly see tensions grow and conflicts take place.



"Dialogue can coincide with imposing sanctions," he said.



"The government needs to drop the idea that holding talks with the North will encourage the hostile state to continue its nuclear weapons program."



Chang added that the government's approach may lead to Seoul losing the initiative in inter-Korean affairs and becoming a third party.



"South Korea has seen its strategic role in inter-Korean issues diminished and not engaging in talks with the North may further isolate the South," he said.



