South Korea and Hungary Establish Diplomatic Ties

SEOUL —  South Korea and Hungary established full diplomatic relations Wednesday, marking a diplomatic milestone in the Seoul government’s courtship of rival North Korea’s socialist allies.

The Hungarian minister of state for foreign affairs, Gyula Horn, said he hopes that the move, which had been widely anticipated since Hungary became the first Communist state to set up a trade office here last year, will not change his country’s relations with North Korea.

“We do not want to change anything in our attitude” toward North Korea, Horn told a news conference after signing a series of accords covering trade and cultural and diplomatic exchanges with his South Korean counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Shin Dong Won.

There was no immediate reaction from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, but the Hungarian’s attitude may not be shared there. North Korea accused the Budapest regime of treachery after it agreed last September to upgrade its Seoul trade office to the status of permanent trade mission. In November, Pyongyang abruptly withdrew its ambassador to Hungary, Kim Pyong Il, who is believed by analysts to be the second son of autocratic President Kim Il Sung.

“Whether they will send a new (ambassador) to replace him, I cannot tell you,” Horn said. “It’s up to Pyongyang.”

Horn said Hungary’s decision to exchange ambassadors with South Korea was made without consulting the Soviet Union or other East Bloc nations.

Relations appear to be warming with other East European countries, such as Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, as direct trade ties boom between South Korea and Communist nations. Seoul also has declared its intention to develop trade with the north and explore a spirit of detente that might smooth the way for eventual unification of the divided peninsula.

South Korean President Roh Tae Woo hailed Wednesday’s agreement with Hungary as a breakthrough that “tore down the last barrier of the Cold War.”

Roh reportedly told Horn, “I hope Hungary will maintain friendly relations with North Korea and help the north to open its doors.”

Charge d’Affaires Sandor Etre, a fluent speaker of Korean and former ambassador to Pyongyang, who has been head of the Hungarian mission to Seoul, is expected to become the first ambassador to Seoul.

Hungary and Korea had two-way trade of about $28 million in 1988, about double the level of the previous year, Horn said.

Meanwhile, the state-run Korea Trade Promotion Corp. is negotiating with the Soviet Chamber of Commerce to set up trade offices that might have the authority to issue travel visas. Talks are snagged over whether the offices would be official, as Seoul wants, or private, as the Soviets prefer.