[USFK Forums] Two Koreas to resume high-level military talks next week [Yonhap]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Tuesday, February 21, 2006

(2nd LD) Two Koreas to resume high-level military talks next week

2006/02/21 11:40

By Sohn Suk-joo

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will resume general-level military talks next Thursday after a nearly two-year hiatus to discuss ways of preventing accidental naval clashes at their disputed sea border, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The two-day talks will be held at Tongilgak, a pavilion on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, where the two sides will also tackle the issue of establishing an area for joint fishing in the disputed West Sea, also known as the Yellow Sea.

"North Korea notified us of the date for the meeting last night and we've sent an agreement telegram this morning," Col. Moon Sung-mook said in a press briefing.

Moon said that the two Koreas will also deal with how to guarantee the safe passage of those using cross-border railways and roads at the upcoming talks.

"We already presented a draft document with regards to the safe passage guarantee to the North and we expect to hear the North's position during the meeting," Moon said. "But the issue is not a main agenda item."

The 10-member South Korean delegation will be headed by Navy Commodore Kim Kyung-sik, and Army Maj. Gen. Ahn Ik-san will lead the North Korean delegation, according to Defense Ministry officials.

The safe passage issue is drawing keen attention here, as former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is hoping to possibly use an inter-Korean railway to visit North Korea in June.

The 2000 summit between Kim and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il eased tensions to allow exchanges between the two Koreas. But North Korea has been reluctant to engage in military talks for various reasons, including South Korea's joint military exercises with the United States.

On Feb. 3, South and North Korea agreed to hold a fresh round of general-level military talks, the third of their kind, in late February or early March at the end of a day of working-level discussions.

During the meeting, North Korea insisted on holding the talks at its newly renovated Tongilgak pavilion instead of the North's highest peak, Mt. Paekdu, while also preferring to postpone them until early March.

In June last year, the two Koreas agreed to restart the military talks at Mt. Paekdu, but the North balked at its implementation, citing a lack of preparation amid the international standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear arms ambitions.

So far, general-level officers of the rival Koreas have met twice and agreed on a set of tension-reducing measures such as establishment of a hotline and dismantling of propaganda facilities along the 248-kilometer land border.

But the military talks stalled after South Korea airlifted 468 North Korean defectors from a third country in July 2004.

The western sea border was poorly marked after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty. The area was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.

ssj@yna.co.kr


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