Col. Lee Sang-cheol, right, South Korea’s chief delegate, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Pak Rim-su after ending working-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Thursday. The meeting was the first of its kind in eight months but failed to yield substantial progress. / Korea Times |
By Joint Press Corps & Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
PANMUNJEOM ― Talks between military officials of the two Koreas ended without any results as the North demanded that the South stop spreading propaganda leaflets, a South Korean military officer said.
The request was made during working-level military talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom, the first of their kind in eight months after the inauguration of the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration.
Col. Lee Sang-cheol, head of a three-member South Korean delegation to the one-day meeting, said the North demanded the South take measures to stop South Korean civic groups visiting North Korea from spreading propaganda leaflets.
``The North side said they are taking the issue very seriously since such leaflets mostly contain messages criticizing the North Korean leader,'' Lee told reporters after the 90-minute meeting. ``They strongly demanded that South Korea resolve the issue urgently.''
Lee said stopping spreading propaganda leaflets in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was one of the previous agreements struck between the two militaries, and South Korean military has observed the agreement thoroughly.
He added the issue would be addressed in Seoul through consultations between related agencies.
Before returning to North Korea, Col. Pak Rim-su, the North's chief delegate, said, ``The talks dealt with the South's spreading of propaganda leaflets.''
He said there was little progress made at the talks, claiming the South Korean delegation was not ready to resolve the problem.
An official of the Ministry of Unification in Seoul, in charge of North Korean affairs, however, said his agency had no information about such activities by South Korean groups.
At the outset of the talks, Pak insisted the entire meeting be open to the media, delaying the start of the talks by 40 minutes.
The chief South Korean delegate rejected the demand, saying no previous inter-Korean dialogue had been fully open to the media and the North was merely trying to turn the talks into a venue for its unilateral demands and propaganda.
Previous inter-Korean military talks were often ruptured due to North Korea's demand to redraw the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea, the de facto sea border between the two Koreas.
Relations between the two countries turned sour after Lee took office. In March, the North threatened to cut inter-Korean dialogue, citing remarks by Gen. Kim Tae-young, chairman of the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a National Assembly hearing.
Asked by a lawmaker what would be done if the North showed signs of attacking the South with its nuclear weapons, Kim said, ``The most important thing is to identify enemy locations suspected of storing nuclear weapons and hit the targets.''
The North claimed Kim's remarks were construed as a ``preemptive strike'' scheme against it. The South dismissed the claim, saying Kim only referred to a general military principle for dealing with outside threats.
Inter-Korean relations further worsened after a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier at the Mount Geumgang resort in the North.
Pyongyang has refused to allow South Korea to send an investigation team there. The South suspended tours to the resort and withdrew its staff.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
|
yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
