Two Koreas to Hold Military Talks Today
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South and North Korea have agreed to hold working-level military talks Monday to discuss ways of improving telecommunication lines between the two sides, the Ministry of National Defense said Saturday.
The North proposed the meeting for several pending issues but there are concerns that the reclusive state may issue a warning against propaganda fliers sent by South Korean civic groups.
``The two sides will discuss the issue of improving military telecommunication lines and other pending issues raised by each side,'' the ministry said in a statement.
The meeting is expected to take place at the CIQ office in an area jointly managed by the two Koreas in the western part of the Korean Peninsula.
Four military officers from South Korean and three or four North Korean counterparts are scheduled to take part in the meeting.
The two Koreas are operating nine military hotlines. One of them has been out of service since May, so the two sides just share information on the joint area.
Late last year, the two Koreas agreed to modernize military hotlines but the implementation has been postponed due to sour relations triggered by the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration's tougher line toward the communist North.
The decrepit telecommunication lines means it takes South Korean travelers and haulers more time to receive a permit to enter North Korea.
Meanwhile, there is speculation that the communist state aims to complain about propaganda leaflets that criticize the leadership of the reclusive state and contain promotions of the free democracy.
North Korean military officers during the inter-Korean military talks on Oct. 2 urged their counterparts to stop civic groups from sending such fliers, threatening the operation of the inter-Korean industrial complex in Gaeseong may be negatively affected.
Several civic organizations which mainly consist of North Korean defectors sent big balloons containing tens of thousands of the fliers with one-dollar notes attached to the North on Oct. 10 when the state celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party.
Despite consecutive warnings from both South and North Korean authorities, some groups including the Fighters for Free North Korea said they will fly more leaflets Monday when the military talks are scheduled.
The organization said it will add news that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suffered a brain stroke and a list of prisoners of war (POW) to the fliers this time.
A senior official from the Ministry of Unification who asked to remain anonymous said there is no legal basis to ban the groups from sending propaganda leaflets.