NKorea, US-led UN Command to meet over sinking

[July 12, 2010]  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The American-led U.N. Command said it would meet with North Korea on Tuesday to discuss the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that has been widely blamed on Pyongyang.

The announcement came three days after the U.N. Security Council approved a statement that condemned the sinking but stopped short of directly implicating North Korea.

An international investigation concluded in May that the North torpedoed the vessel near the tense Korean sea border, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang flatly denies it was responsible for the March 26 sinking and has warned any punishment would trigger war.

Late last month, the U.N. Command, which oversees an armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953, proposed general-level talks with North Korea to discuss the warship sinking. The North first rejected the offer, criticizing the U.S. for allegedly trying to meddle in inter-Korean affairs under the name of the U.N.

But North Korea changed its position late last week and proposed colonel-level talks at the Korean border village of Panmunjom to prepare for the general-level talks. The U.N. Command said in a statement Monday that the sides will meet at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) Tuesday.

North Korea and the U.N. Command launched general-level talks in 1998 as a measure to lessen tension between the sides, the statement said. Tuesday's general-level meeting would constitute the 17th of its kind, it said.

The U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War, which ended in an armistice that has never been replaced with a permanent peace treaty.

On Saturday, North Korea said it will make efforts to resume stalled disarmament talks on its nuclear program and conclude a peace treaty that could formally end the Korean War, a sign that the regime is satisfied with the U.N. Security Council's less stringent presidential statement.

The signing of a peace treaty is a coveted goal for North Korea, which has argued it was forced to develop atomic weapons to cope with U.S. nuclear threats. The U.S. has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking the North.

[Associated Press; By HYUNG-JIN KIM]

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