2 Koreas to hold senior-level talks in Seoul
Source: Agencies |
June 11, 2013, Tuesday
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North and South Korea agreed yesterday to hold senior-level talks this week in Seoul, a breakthrough of sorts to ease tensions after Pyongyang's recent threats of nuclear war and Seoul's vows of counterstrikes.
The two-day meeting starting tomorrow will focus on stalled cooperation projects, including the resumption of operations at a jointly-run factory park near the border in North Korea that was the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement until Pyongyang pulled out its workers in April during heightened tensions that followed its February nuclear test.
The details of the upcoming talks were ironed out in a nearly 17-hour negotiating session by lower-level officials. Those discussions began on Sunday in the countries' first government-level meeting on the Korean Peninsula in more than two years and took place at the village of Panmunjom on their heavily armed border, near where the armistice ending the three-year Korean War was signed 60 years ago next month. That truce has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically at war.
The agreement to hold the talks was announced in a statement early yesterday by South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for North Korea matters. North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, also reported the agreement.
It's still unclear who will represent each side in what will likely be the highest-level talks between the Koreas in years. But dialogue at any level marks an improvement in the countries' abysmal ties. The last several years have seen North Korean nuclear tests, long-range rocket launches and attacks blamed on the North that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.
The meeting that starts tomorrow will also include discussions on resuming South Korean tours to a North Korean mountain resort, the reunion of separated families and other humanitarian issues, officials said. The issue most crucial to Washington, however - a push to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons - isn't on the official agenda.
While there was broad agreement, the ministry said in a statement, sticking points arose over the delegation heads and the agenda. Seoul said it will send a senior-level official responsible for North Korea-related issues while Pyongyang said it would send a senior-level government official.
South Korea's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae proposed a minister-level meeting with the North last week.
The two-day meeting starting tomorrow will focus on stalled cooperation projects, including the resumption of operations at a jointly-run factory park near the border in North Korea that was the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement until Pyongyang pulled out its workers in April during heightened tensions that followed its February nuclear test.
The details of the upcoming talks were ironed out in a nearly 17-hour negotiating session by lower-level officials. Those discussions began on Sunday in the countries' first government-level meeting on the Korean Peninsula in more than two years and took place at the village of Panmunjom on their heavily armed border, near where the armistice ending the three-year Korean War was signed 60 years ago next month. That truce has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically at war.
The agreement to hold the talks was announced in a statement early yesterday by South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for North Korea matters. North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, also reported the agreement.
It's still unclear who will represent each side in what will likely be the highest-level talks between the Koreas in years. But dialogue at any level marks an improvement in the countries' abysmal ties. The last several years have seen North Korean nuclear tests, long-range rocket launches and attacks blamed on the North that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.
The meeting that starts tomorrow will also include discussions on resuming South Korean tours to a North Korean mountain resort, the reunion of separated families and other humanitarian issues, officials said. The issue most crucial to Washington, however - a push to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons - isn't on the official agenda.
While there was broad agreement, the ministry said in a statement, sticking points arose over the delegation heads and the agenda. Seoul said it will send a senior-level official responsible for North Korea-related issues while Pyongyang said it would send a senior-level government official.
South Korea's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae proposed a minister-level meeting with the North last week.
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