By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South and North Korea will hold working-level military talks today at the truce village of Panmunjeom, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
The meeting will be the first of its kind since the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration in February. The North Korean military has denounced Lee's policy toward North Korea that calls for Pyongyang's denuclearization before aid is given.
Col. Lee Sang-cheol, head of the ministry's North Korea policy bureau, will head a three-member South Korean delegation, while Col. Park Rim-soo will represent North Korea at the one-day meeting. The talks are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Last Saturday, North Korea first proposed holding inter-Korean military talks Sept. 30 through a cross-border military hotline amid a deadlocked denuclearization deal under the six-party framework involving the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia.
South Korea counter-proposed holding the talks Oct. 2, a day after the South's Armed Forces Day, ministry officials said.
It is not yet clear what Pyongyang wants to bring to the table, an official said. Possible topics include ways of facilitating the operation of an inter-Korean industrial zone in Gaeseong in transportation, customs clearance and telecommunication services, he said.
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 of 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.