KOREAS HOLD MILITARY TALKS
This comes as US says it detected renewed activity at a North missile plant
NORTH and South Korea discussed reducing tension but did not announce any detailed agreements after military talks yesterday, while the United States detected renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory, casting more suspicion over the North’s intentions.
The meeting, the second since June and held in the border village of Panmunjom, was designed to follow on from an inter-Korean summit in April at which leaders of the two Koreas agreed to defuse tension and halt “all hostile acts”.
North Korean leader Kim Jongun also vowed during his separate summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June to work towards denuclearisation, but there has been no concrete agreement to accomplish that goal.
The North had pursued its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions and increasingly severe sanctions.
Generals from the two Koreas exchanged views on a possible cut in firearms and personnel to “demilitarise” the heavily fortified demilitarised zone, as well as joint excavation within the area of the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
They also discussed ways to turn the skirmish-prone West Sea by ceasing firing exercises and withdrawing artillery along the shore, according to South Korea’s Defence Ministry.
But they did not agree on details, which would be further discussed through working-level talks, the ministry said.
The ministry said last week it planned to reduce guard posts and equipment along the heavily fortified border as an initial step.
The talks were meaningful in “creating understanding” in ways to implement the summit agreement, said Kim Do-gyun, the South’s chief negotiator who is in charge of North Korea policy at the ministry.
Ahn Ik-san, the general leading the North Korean delegation at the military talks, said both sides agreed on “some issues”, without elaborating.
At the start of the meeting, Iksan noted South Korean news reports suggesting that he might try to persuade the South to push for a joint declaration with the US to formally end the war.
“Before determining whether it is true or not, I realised the people of the North and South regard our talks as important.”
The Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the US-led UN forces, including South Korea, technically still at war with the North.
On Monday, a senior US official said US spy satellites had detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching US.
Pompeo said last week that North Korea was continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs.
Trump declared soon after his summit with Jong-un that North Korea no longer posed nuclear threats, but Pyongyang has offered no details on its plan to denuclearise and subsequent talks have not gone smoothly.