[USFK Forums] N. Korea agrees to discuss fate of S. Korean POWs [Reuter 50916]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded belatedly by C. Y. Lee on Monday, November 28, 2005] This covers an older news of Reuters that was posted on September 16, 2005 as follows:
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N.Korea agrees to discuss fate of S.Korean POWs

16 Sep 2005 11:15:53 GMTSource: Reuters

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, Sept 16 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it is willing to discuss the cases of thousands of South Koreans who were either taken prisoner during the Korean War or were believed to have been abducted by the North later on.

In a joint statement issued at the end of ministerial-level talks in Pyongyang, the two sides also agreed to allow more reunions between the hundreds of thousands of families separated by the 1950-1953 war and work toward a lasting peace on the divided peninsula.

But the statement gave no details about how the North would report on the fate of South Korean POWs and abductees.

"South and North Korea agreed to discuss and seek solutions to confirm life or death of those missing since the time of the war through the inter-Korea Red Cross talks," it said.

The statement came as six-country talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme remained deadlocked in Beijing on Friday, the fourth day.

Pyongyang hung tough, rejecting a South Korean offer of electricity in return for giving up nuclear arms, and insisting on its right to nuclear-generated energy.

South Korea's Defence Ministry has said there were 19,000 soldiers missing at the end of the Korean War, estimating that 542 former were still alive in the North.

They said some 480 South Koreans had since been abducted by North Korea.
At the talks in Pyongyang, the North did not agree to a South Korean proposal that the rival states set up liaison offices in the other's capital to help expand commercial and humanitarian ties.

Before unification, East and West Germany maintained representative offices in the other's capital.

The two Koreas are technically still at war, the 1953 armistice never followed by a peace treaty.

"We have decided to work for a durable peace on the Korean peninsula and seek substantial measures to ease military tensions," the two sides said in the statement.

They agreed to hold another round of family reunions in November and another ministerial-level meeting in December in South Korea.

The family reunions began after the unprecedented and unrepeated summit of the leaders of the two Koreas in June 2000. About 11,000 North and South Koreans met separated relatives in the 11 previous rounds.

Ties between North and South Korea have warmed in recent months as the two reached agreements on humanitarian aid, economic development and agricultural cooperation.

The issue of South Korean POWs and others suspected of being abducted by the North is a highly sensitive subject, mostly avoided in bilateral talks because it implies North Korea had acted unlawfully.

In August, Red Cross societies from the two Koreas held their first talks on POWs and abductees. Critics of the South Korean government said Seoul had avoided pressing the topics for fear of offending the North.

(With additional reporting by Kim Yoo-chul)


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