Deputy Premiers of Koreas to Begin Talks Today
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Deputy prime ministers of South and North Korea will begin three-day talks here today to discuss details of new cross-border economic cooperation programs agreed upon at the inter-Korean summit in October, the Ministry of Unification said.
During the summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang, a range of agreements on new South Korean-backed economic projects were proposed.
Regular cross-border cargo railway service and the construction of an inter-Korean business zone near the disputed western waters were among key accords.
Prime ministers of both Koreas had follow-up talks in Seoul last month.
Ministry officials said besides agreed economic cooperation projects, South Korea wants to discuss the development of a rare oil field off the North's west coast. North Korea, however, is negative about the issue, they said.
``The North Koreans said they wish to discuss items within the framework of the summit agreement, while we called on them not to limit the scope of the talks,'' a ministry official was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying.
The two Koreas agreed Sunday on the detailed schedule for the daily cross-border cargo service.
The train, which will run each weekday starting on Dec. 11, will travel to the North Korean station of Bongdong to facilitate transportation of goods to and from the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Gaeseong.
Meanwhile, a permanent face-to-face meeting center for displaced South and North Korean families is to open at Mount Geumgang in North Korea Friday, ministry officials said.
Tens of thousands of Korean families were separated when the Korean Peninsula was divided into two at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
During Red Cross talks last week, the two Koreas agreed to expand the direct reunion of the displaced families and relatives.
The two sides agreed to increase the numbers of people for the direct reunion per year by 100 to 400 beginning next year.