Goodwill evident ahead of rare meeting of two Koreas

SOUTH KOREA: South Korea wanted the reunification of families divided since the end of the Korean War to be on the agenda when its diplomats met their North Korean counterparts at Panmunjom yesterday.

Cho Myoung-gyon, South Korea’s unification minister, said Seoul also hoped to be able to explore ways of reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula when the two sides met to discuss arrangements for North Korean athletes to take part in the forthcoming Winter Olympic Games.

‘‘We will listen to what North Korea will say,’’ Cho told reporters in Seoul ahead of the meeting. ‘‘We will make efforts to enable the North to take part in the games.

‘‘Basically, the two sides will focus on the Olympics,’’ Cho was quoted as saying. ‘‘When discussing inter-Korean relations, the government will seek to raise the issue of war-torn families and ways to ease military tensions’’.

Cho headed a five-strong South Korean delegation that took part in the talks in one of the huts that sit astride the North-South border at Panmunjom.

The talks were the first direct dialogue between the two governments since December 2015.

Reuniting families who have been separated for more than 60 years has been a regular request from successive governments in the South.

Since August 2000, South Koreans have been able to travel to the North to meet their relatives on more than 20 occasions, although deteriorating ties between Pyongyang and successive and more hardline conservative governments in the South have meant that the last meeting was in February 2014.

The North Korean delegation was headed by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. He has overseen crossborder military talks since 2006 and is considered to be a key adviser to Kim Yong-chol, vicechairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party.

North Korean state media had hinted at Pyongyang’s priorities going into the talks, with the Korea Central News Agency reporting: ‘‘The entire process of North-South relations shows that efforts to improve bilateral ties can come to fruition only when the two sides work together based upon cooperation among Korean people.’’

‘‘The will to enhance NorthSouth relations must be backed up not by words, but by practical actions to foster inter-Korean reconciliation and unity, and reunification,’’ it added.

Polls in South Korea have suggested that three-quarters of the population are in favour of North Korean athletes taking part in the Winter Olympics, which are due to start in the city of Pyeongchang on February 9.

The talks follow North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s call for dialogue in a New Year’s Day address in which he claimed that his nation had the ability to strike anywhere in the US with a nuclear weapon.

American and Japanese officials have sought reassurances from South Korea that the discussions wouldn’t undermine United Nations sanctions aimed at pressuring Kim to abandon his nuclear programme.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis condemned North Korea in a call with his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera, the Pentagon said yesterday.

The pair underscored the importance of maximising pressure on North Korea, according to the statement, which made no ref- erence to the talks.

Both South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim will be able to listen in on the discussions, and intervene if needed, according to a South Korean government official, who asked not to be identified.

US President Donald Trump at the weekend called the talks ‘‘a big start’’, saying they were evidence that sanctions targeting North Korea’s oil imports and export revenue were working.

At Moon’s request, Trump delayed annual joint US-South Korean military exercises until after the Paralympic Winter Games end on March 18. The two nations will conduct the military drills from April 1 until the end of May, South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday, citing South Korean officials.

– Telegraph Group, Bloomberg