S-N Working Level Military Talks Due Monday

South and North Korea will hold working level talks Monday to discuss outstanding military matters, Yonhap News reported quoting the Defense Ministry Saturday.

The meeting will be held at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine office on the western coast near the city of Paju at 10 a.m. Monday.

Army lieutenant colonels will represent the two sides in talks expected to touch on outstanding issues, including those related to changing the existing hotline system between the two countries. Pyongyang first proposed the talks Friday.

There are presently nine military hotlines, but one connection in the important western sector has been inoperable since May.

The two sides have since relied on other lines that run through the eastern coast, although most conversations have been limited to routine affairs like movements over the joint control area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

The Defense Ministry said there is consensus on both sides on upgrading the hotline links, which can be used in emergency situations to prevent regional clashes from escalating into full-blown conflicts. However, there have been no detailed talks to change the communication link.

The DMZ is the world's most heavily fortified demarcation line, with over a million troops guarding the 248 kilometer-long border that divides the Korean Peninsula.

Some sources in the ministry said that the North may have called the meeting to protest moves by South Korean groups that have sent leaflets containing derogatory information about the North Korean leadership.

"South Korean representatives will be ready to discuss all contingencies and listen to what the North has to say," a military spokesman said.

Last month, officials from the two Koreas met for the first inter-Korean military dialogue in eight months, but the talks ended abruptly without any significant progress after the North's delegates warned of "grave consequences" for the spreading of propaganda leaflets by South Korean civic groups.

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