By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
The United Nations Command (UNC) said Wednesday that a colonel-level meeting with North Korea to discuss the deadly sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March will be held at the truce village of Panmunjeom, today.
The talks were originally scheduled for Monday, but the communist state requested delaying the talks due to administrative reasons.
Late Tuesday, the North proposed a new date for Thursday, according to the UNC.
North Korea's representation at Panmunjeom sent a message to the UNC Military Armistice Commission and proposed a meeting between the two sides at 10 a.m. Thursday, it said.
The meeting comes a week after the U.N. Security Council released a presidential statement condemning the attack on the Cheonan. The statement fell short of blaming the North directly.
A South Korean-led multinational team concluded in May that the ship was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine. North Korea has denied the allegation.
The U.S.-led UNC is a signatory to the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The United States maintains about 28,000 troops here as a deterrent against the North.