By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea Wednesday proposed that North Korea start partial operation of cross-border railways on a regular basis and resume defense ministers' talks as soon as possible to help ease tension on the Korean Peninsula.
On the second day of the 21st inter-Korean ministerial meeting in Seoul, the two sides did not clash over Seoul's recent decision to delay its food aid to the impoverished North, said Goh Gyeong-bin, Seoul's spokesman for the four-day talks.
``The North has not taken issue with the withholding of rice shipments," Goh told reporters.
``We urged the North to implement the Feb. 13 agreement immediately and proposed that state-run institutes conduct joint studies to establish a roadmap for economic cooperation and peace on the Korean Peninsula,'' he said.
In a keynote speech, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung offered to resolve the humanitarian issue of prisoners of war (POWs) and abductees believed to be held by North Korea.
The minister also urged the North to implement the long-delayed Feb. 13 accord on the North's nuclear weapons program, but his North Korean counterpart Kwon Ho-ung, chief councilor of the Cabinet, has not made any immediate response over these thorny issues.
Kwon called on South Korea to halt joint military exercises with the United States and abolish the anti-communist National Security Law, saying it poses a threat to inter-Korean talks.
During inter-Korean economic talks in Pyongyang last month, Seoul promised to send some 400,000 tons of rice to the North by today on condition that the North take steps to shut down and seal its nuclear facilities.
Under the Feb. 13 deal, the North was supposed to start the denuclearization process in return for energy aid within 60 days.
The North, however, failed to meet the April 14 deadline, citing a banking dispute with the United States over $25 million of its funds frozen at a Macau bank, Banco Delta Asia.
In a separate deal, the North Korean money was unblocked, but the communist country has yet to withdraw it.