South, North Korea in peace talks amid stand-off
SEOUL: Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea resumed talks yesterday after negotiating through the night in a bid to ease tension involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of war.
The meeting at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarised Zone began on Saturday evening shortly after North Korea’s deadline for Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts or face military action. It broke up before dawn yesterday.
Even as the talks restarted, the rivals were on high military alert, with North Korea deploying twice the usual artillery strength at the border and most of its submarine fleet – more than 50 vessels – away from bases, the South’s Defence Ministry said.
South Korea, whose military was also on higher alert, said it had no plans to halt the propaganda broadcasts that triggered the latest stand-off.
The envoys, shown on television exchanging handshakes and tight smiles at the start of their meeting, discussed ways to resolve tension and improve ties, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said.
“Both sides are under big pressure to get something out of this,” said Jeon Young-sun, professor at the Institute of the Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University in Seoul, who said the length of the high-level meeting could be unprecedented.
The talks took place in South Korea’s Peace House, the same venue where lower-level talks between the bitter rivals took place in February last year, without ending in agreement. The negotiations were interrupted with breaks for both sides to consult their governments, the South’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
Yesterday’s talks were open-ended, with the South’s Blue House expected to announce the results after they conclude.
North and South Korea have remained in a state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, and inter-Korean relations have been in a deep freeze since the deadly 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship – for which Pyongyang denied responsibility.
The current tension began early this month when two South Korean soldiers were wounded by landmines along the border. The North denies laying the mines.
Days later, Seoul began its propaganda broadcasts in random three-hour bursts from 11 banks of loudspeakers, including news reports and pop music from the South, resuming a tactic both sides halted in 2004.
The crisis had escalated on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of 29 artillery rounds. North Korea declared a “quasistate of war” in frontline areas and made an ultimatum for Seoul to halt its broadcasts. That deadline passed on Saturday without any incident. – Reuters