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Korean talks falter amid differences over military tension
Seoul, May 07: North and South Korean officials ended their high-level talks in Pyongyang today amid disputes over how to ease military tensions, reports said.
Seoul, May 07: North and South Korean officials ended
their high-level talks in Pyongyang today amid disputes over
how to ease military tensions, reports said.
A brief joint press statement summing up the four-day talks failed to present any single point of agreement, except for the fact that the two sides agreed to continue dialogue.
"At the talks, the two sides shared the view that they should push forward inter-Korean ties in line with the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration and agreed to continue discussing issues raised by both sides," the statement said.
It said the two Koreas agreed to hold the next high-level talks, the 15th in its series, in Seoul in early august. A rough sailing was expected in the early phase of the talks when North Korea's chief delegate Kwon Ho-Ung renewed the north's long-standing demand for an end to US-South Korea joint military drills.
South Korea urged North Korea to soften its stance in the stand-off over its nuclear weapons drive and called for a meeting between military generals, agreed at the last high-level north-south talks, on tensions over disputed inter-Korean maritime borders.
The talks then fell into a stalemate despite seven follow-up meetings of the delegates.
A brief joint press statement summing up the four-day talks failed to present any single point of agreement, except for the fact that the two sides agreed to continue dialogue.
"At the talks, the two sides shared the view that they should push forward inter-Korean ties in line with the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration and agreed to continue discussing issues raised by both sides," the statement said.
It said the two Koreas agreed to hold the next high-level talks, the 15th in its series, in Seoul in early august. A rough sailing was expected in the early phase of the talks when North Korea's chief delegate Kwon Ho-Ung renewed the north's long-standing demand for an end to US-South Korea joint military drills.
South Korea urged North Korea to soften its stance in the stand-off over its nuclear weapons drive and called for a meeting between military generals, agreed at the last high-level north-south talks, on tensions over disputed inter-Korean maritime borders.
The talks then fell into a stalemate despite seven follow-up meetings of the delegates.
The cabinet ministers' talks have been the highest channel of dialogue between the two Koreas since a landmark summit in 2000, which resulted in a joint declaration for peace and rapprochement.
Bureau Report