NORTH and South Korea have agreed to hold military and Red Cross talks later this month aimed at reducing tensions and resuming the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
During a meeting of senior officials at the border village of Panmunjom, the nations also agreed to establish a liaison office at the town of Kaesong, and to discuss fielding combined sports teams at the Asian Games in August, as they continue to take steps toward reconciliation.
South Korea said building trust with North Korea is crucial amid a US-led diplomatic push for denuclearisation in the North.
Military talks have been scheduled for June 14 at Panmunjomand the Red Cross talks on June 22 at the North’s Diamond Mountain resort. Negotiations between sports officials are set for June 18 at Panmunjom.
The meeting followed talks in New York between US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol on a summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon said: “If we continue to engage with each other like we did today, there will be no problem that can’t be solved between the South and North.”
Ri Son Gwon, chief of the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, told Cho that they should work on building “trust and consideration for each other”.
Panmunjom has also been the site of pre-summit negotiations between American and North Korean officials. The American delegation is led by Sung Kim, the US ambassador to Manila, who said on Friday that a meeting between Washington and Pyongyang would provide an opportunity to “lead our two countries into new era of security, prosperity and peace”.
South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who met with Kim Jong Un twice in the past two months, has said progress in inter-Korean reconciliation will be a crucial part of international efforts to resolve the nuclear stand-off with North Korea, because the North will not give up its nuclear programme unless it feels its security is assured.
When Moon and Kim met for their first summit at Panmunjom in April 27, they spoke of vague aspirations for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough that increases the chances of successful nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim.
But relations chilled when North Korea cancelled an inter-Korean meeting and threatened to walk away from the summit with Trump because of the South’s participation in regular military exercises with the United States, as well as comments from American officials. Trump cancelled the summit, then said it may still take place, shortly before Kim and Moon met again and agreed to resume high-level talks between their countries.
Talking to South Korean reporters ahead of Friday’s meeting, Ri seemed irritated when asked whether North Korea sees its grievances as resolved, saying reporters must ask questions that “meet the demand of changing times”.
When asked about the potential Trump-Kim meeting, Ri replied: “Go fly to Singapore to ask that question. This is Panmunjom.”
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