|
 The meeting at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) village, known for its
sky-blue huts and grim-faced soldiers, was set for half an hour
after North Korea's previously set ultimatum demanding that the
South halt its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border or
face military action.
That deadline passed without any reported incidents.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been running high since an
exchange of artillery fire on Thursday, prompting calls for calm
from the United Nations, the United States and the North's lone
major ally, China. South Korea's military remained on high alert
despite the announced talks, a defense official said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security adviser and
her unification minister met Hwang Pyong So, the top military aide
to the North's leader Kim Jong Un, and a senior official who handles
inter-Korean affairs at 6 p.m. Seoul time (0500 ET).
"The South and the North agreed to hold contact related to the
ongoing situation in South-North relations," Kim Kyou-hyun, the
presidential Blue House's deputy national security adviser, said in
a televised briefing.
Pyongyang made an initial proposal on Friday for a meeting, and
Seoul made a revised proposal on Saturday seeking Hwang's
attendance, Kim said.
The North's KCNA news agency also announced the meeting, referring
to the South as the Republic of Korea, a rare formal recognition of
its rival state, in sharp contrast to the bellicose rhetoric in
recent days.
"They need to come up with some sort of an agreement where both
sides have saved face. That would be the trick," said James Kim, a
research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
"North Korea will probably demand that the broadcasts be cut, and
they may even come to an impasse on that issue."
North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their
1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, had declared
a "quasi-state of war" in front-line areas and set the deadline for
Seoul to halt the broadcasts from loudspeakers placed along the
border.
"The situation on the Korean peninsula is now inching close to the
brink of a war due to the reckless provocations made by the south
Korean military war hawks," the North's KCNA news agency said
earlier.
Seoul had said it would continue the broadcasts unless the North
accepted responsibility for landmine explosions this month in the
DMZ that wounded two South Korean soldiers. Pyongyang denies it
planted the mines.
 South Korean Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo said on Friday his
government expected North Korea to fire at some of the 11 sites
where Seoul has set up loudspeakers.
The United States, which has 28,500 military personnel based in
South Korea, said on Friday it had resumed its annual joint military
exercises there after a temporary halt to coordinate with Seoul over
the shelling from North Korea.
[to top of second column] |
The drills, code-named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, began on Monday and
run until next Friday. North Korea regularly condemns the maneuvers
as a preparation for war.
Four South Korean and four U.S. fighter jets flew in a joint sortie
over the South on Saturday, an official at the South's office of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff said by telephone, as thousands of South
Korean villagers living near the border were evacuated into
shelters.
FAMILIAR FACES
Pyongyang's two negotiators were among a delegation that made an
unexpected visit to the South last October to attend the closing
ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, where they met Kim Kwan-jin,
Park's national security adviser, who lead the South's delegation on
Saturday.
That visit had raised hopes for an improvement in inter-Korean
relations, but little progress was made.
North and South Korea have often exchanged threats over the years,
and dozens of soldiers have been killed in clashes, yet the two
sides have always pulled back from all-out war. Analysts had
expected the current crisis eventually to wind down.
"The fact that these powerful officials who represent South and
North Korea's leaders are meeting means this is a great time to turn
the crisis into opportunity," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the
University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "It is a breakthrough."
North-South ties have been virtually frozen since the deadly 2010
sinking of a South Korean warship. North Korea denies it was
involved.
South Korea began blasting anti-North propaganda over the DMZ on
Aug. 10, resuming a tactic both sides had stopped in 2004, days
after the landmine incident.
North Korea resumed its own broadcasts on Monday. On Thursday,
according to Seoul, it launched four shells into South Korea. The
South fired 29 artillery rounds back.
Neither side reported casualties or damage.
North Korea has been hit with UN and U.S. sanctions because of
nuclear and missile tests, moves that Pyongyang sees as an attack on
its sovereign right to defend itself.
(Additional reporting by Sohee Kim and James Pearson in Seoul and
David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by
Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
