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NORTH KOREA THIS WEEK NO. 460 (August 2, 2007)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Koreas Fail to Find Common Ground in Military Talks
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- General-level military talks between South and North Korea ruptured last week without any progress towards easing tension between the two sides, as they remained locked in a standoff over their disputed western sea border. During the three-day talks that ended on July 26, the two sides discussed how to prevent accidental armed clashes in the West Sea, but maintained their own positions on the matter.
The sixth round of the talks was held at the House of Peace, on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom. The icy mood at the end of the negotiations signaled that there will be no such talks involving general-grade officers for the time being.
South Korean delegates proposed measures to prevent armed conflicts near the western sea border, including establishment of a joint fishing zone in the crab-rich waters in the area. They also called for a permanent security guarantee for cross-border trains and joint development of the mouth of the Han River. With two railways, one cutting across the western side of the border and the other in the east, set for operations, the two Koreas conducted trial runs of trains in May.
But the North reiterated its demand for a new maritime border to replace the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which has served as the de-facto sea border since the 1950-53 Korean War. The North refuses to recognize the line drawn up unilaterally by United Nations troops.
Among the notable remarks made during the talks was one by North Korea's chief delegate Lt. General Kim Yong-chol, who demanded that the South show its "sincere attitude as the party concerned for setting up a peace system on the peninsula, not by words, but by actions."
He claimed that if the South avoids handling issues on peace and easing tension in the West Sea, it is tantamount to Seoul saying is not interested in bringing lasting peace to the peninsula.
Pyongyang earlier excluded South Korea from its proposal for talks for a peace regime. On July 13, North Korea's military representative at Panmunjom proposed military talks between the North and the United States to discuss peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, namely bilateral military talks to replace the armistice that ended the Korean War with a peace treaty.
Washington turned down the proposal but left the door open to the possibility of starting the process this year within the framework of the six-way talks, which also involve South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. Seoul expressed uneasiness about Pyongyang's offer, saying it should be included in any talks on peace on the peninsula since it is a party directly concerned.
Both sides expressed regret over the rupture of the military talks. "It is highly regrettable that we have failed to narrow the differences over the contentious point," Maj. Gen. Jeong Seung-jo, chief of the South Korean delegation, told reporters in his closing remarks. The two sides failed to set a date for the next round.
Pyongyang's chief delegate said the NLL issue is a deal breaker again and alleged that Seoul bears responsibility. "The South's claim that the NLL is a basic military demarcation line that has been observed so far is a sophistry," the two-star general said during the closing session that was unusually opened to the media.
He strongly hinted that Pyongyang will boycott such general-grade military talks between the two Koreas, questioning the efficacy of such "fruitless" negotiations. "The South seems not to be ready for talks. So to speak, we reached a conclusion that it cannot be a dialogue partner," Kim said.
A main reason for the failure was differences over the NLL. The South maintained that gradual tension-reducing measures should be taken to prevent clashes, and refused to discuss the de-facto border.
The North repeated its demand that the western sea border be redrawn before negotiations on other related issues. Pyongyang has persistently protested against the NLL, which was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two navies engaged in bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002 mainly due to North Korean violations of the maritime border.
The joint briefing was dominated by wrangling over the legitimacy of the NLL. The agenda originally included discussions on how to prevent military conflicts, where to create a joint fishing zone, direct passage through the NLL by North Korean cargo ships for commercial purposes, and comprehensive military security for inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.
The two Koreas are technically in a state of war, with nearly 2 million battle-ready troops deployed on both sides of the demarcation line.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed on July 26 that the North repeatedly advanced innovative proposals helpful to the discussion of the issues in line with the spirit of attaching importance to the nation, defending peace and achieving unity, and that it has made every sincere effort for their realization.
However, the KCNA alleged the South deliberately created obstacles in the talks, insisting on its wrong assertions and not changing its confrontational position. "The north side officially expressed its stand that there is no need to continue the North-South general-level talks under the situation where the South side negates the talks themselves," the news agency said.
The North also claimed if the South truly wants to bring progress in discussions on the agenda items, it should not merely say it is responsible for building a peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, but prove it through actions.
In the previous round of general-level talks in May, the two sides agreed to continue discussions on joint fishing zones in the Yellow Sea, the direct passage of cargo ships through the sea border and joint development of the mouth of the Han River. Jeong admitted that the Koreas remain divided on the details, saying, "That is why we are having talks."
(END)
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