DPRK, S. Korea Agree to Set Up Military CommitteeSouth Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed on Tuesday to establish a working-level military committee to settle issues concerning the relinking of the inter-Korean railway and road systems.In a five-point statement following the inter-Korean defense ministers' talks in Cheju, South Korea, South Korean Defense Minister Cho Sung-tae and DPRK People's Armed Forces Minister Kim Il Chol also agreed to meet again in the DPRK in November. The statement stipulates that military authorities on both sides should support the South-North Joint Declaration signed at the inter-Korean Pyongyang summit last June and work towards ending years of distrust and hostility between the two sides. At the first-ever military meeting since the Korean peninsula was divided, the two military leaders said tension reduction and the guarantee of peace on the peninsula should precede reconciliation and cooperation. The DPRK minister, who arrived in South Korea Sunday afternoon for the two-day closed-door talks, will be received by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on the Tuesday afternoon before returning to Pyongyang via Panmunjom, the truce village. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |