[USFK Forums] N. Korea delays dialogue, citing S. Korea-U.S. joint military exercise

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y Lee on Saturday, March 11, 2006

(LEAD) N. Korea delays dialogue, citing S. Korea-U.S joint military exercise

2006/03/11 16:29

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has decided to delay a scheduled round of inter-Korean ministerial talks to protest a joint military exercise between South Korean and U.S. forces stationed here, the North's state news agency reported Saturday.

The (North) Korean Central News Agency said the North's chief delegate to the ministerial talks, Kwon Ho-ung, a senior Cabinet councilor, sent a telegraph to his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-seok to notify him of the delay in the talks.

The 18th round of high-profile government talks was scheduled to be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang from March 28-31.

The telegraph, according to the KCNA report and officials at the South Korean Unification Ministry, said the North was forced to push back the inter-Korean talks because Seoul recently confirmed the beginning of a joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise later in the month.

The command of the combined forces of South Korea and the U.S. said on Friday that the annual joint training will be held for one week starting from March 25.

Pyongyang was notified of the drill via the United Nations Command, which governs the Korean armistice treaty, according to the Combined Forces Command.

The defense-centered exercises are mainly aimed at strengthening the joint forces' teamwork in emergency situations, according to the CFC, but the North claims they are nothing but a war exercise aimed at provoking, or attacking, it.

"Our side has repeatedly requested your side halt the joint military exercise with outside forces, which threatens inter-Korean relations and runs counter to the basic principles of the June 15 joint declaration," Kwon told the South Korean unification minister, according to the report.

The Koreas have held 157 rounds of bilateral talks between various officials, including Red Cross and military officials, as well as their defense ministers, since the historic inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2000.

The communist North, however, continues to accuse the United States of trying to overthrow its regime and is currently boycotting international negotiations over its nuclear programs that also involve the United States, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea.

"It is our stance that a hostile war exercise and peaceful dialogue cannot coexist," the telegraph said.

It said the talks will be pushed back until an appropriate time in April but offered no specific date, and blamed the South wholly for the delay.

The Koreas have been divided along one of the world's most heavily-armed borders since the end of 1950-53 Korean War. They remain in a state of war as the fighting ended only with a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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