Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 12, 2004
S.Korea proposes high-level military talks with DPRK
South Korea Thursday formally proposed to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to hold high-level military talks as agreed at a recent inter-Korean ministerial meeting.
South Korea Thursday formally proposed to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to hold high-level military talks as agreed at a recent inter-Korean ministerial meeting.
In a regular press briefing, South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said his ministry had sent such message to the DPRK Thursday morning, but declined to elaborate on the proposed date for the talks, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.
The unification minister's remarks came after the two countriesagreed to resume high-level military talks to ease tension on the peninsula in the 13th Inter-Korean Ministerial Meeting held here from Feb. 3-6.
South Korea and the DPRK held their first and only defense ministerial talks in September 2000 following the historic inter-Korean summit between South Korean then President Kim Dae-jung andthe DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il earlier that year.
Proposed high-level inter-Korean military talks will focus mainly on how to avoid naval skirmishes around the disputed controversial inter-Korean sea border on the Yellow Sea, the so-called Northern Limit Line (NLL), the South Korean Defense Ministry said Monday.
The two countries had naval clashes near the controversial sea border in 1999 and 2002. The DPRK does not accept the NLL concept.