DPRK, ROK top military talk to ease animosity

No agreement reached during their first such dialogue in seven years

Military generals from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea met on Wednesday for talks on how to ease animosity between the rival countries following two shooting incidents last week, media said.

But no agreement was reached during the talks, Seoul's Defense Ministry said.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said separate agreements were not made during the talks; nor were schedules for the next military dialogue discussed.

"The atmosphere of today's talks was very serious because We both have wills to improve ties ... but they couldn't narrow their differences," Kim said.

Yonhap news agency cited a government source as saying that the talks between generals on both sides were held at the border truce village of Panmunjom, and that Pyongyang had requested that the meeting be kept confidential.

Seoul sent Moon Sang-gyun, director-general of arms control at the Defense Ministry, and senior Unification Ministry official Kim Ki-woong.

The DPRK dispatched Kim Yong-chul, head of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, and Re Sun-kwon and Kwak Chul-hee, senior officials at the National Defense Commission.

The two countries traded gunfire on Friday after ROK activists floated balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border. Earlier last week, their navies exchanged warning shots along the countries' disputed sea boundary.

After the gunfire exchange, the ROK said it would sternly deal with any further provocations by the DPRK, but it emphasized that the door for dialogue remained open. Pyongyang urged Seoul to stop hostile acts such as dropping leaflets if it wants improved ties.

Hopes for better relations were given impetus after a group of high-level DPRK officials made a rare visit to the ROK earlier this month and agreed to resume senior-level talks. Seoul has said the senior-level talks would be among government officials, not military officers.

Wednesday's meeting was expected to focus on how to ease tensions along the sea boundary, the scene of several bloody inter-Korean naval skirmishes in recent years, as well as discuss the dropping of propaganda leaflets, Yonhap reported, citing unidentified ROK government and ruling party sources. YTN television network carried a similar report.

Pyongyang has long demanded Seoul prohibit activists from dropping leaflets, but the ROK has refused, citing freedom of speech.

AP - AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 10/16/2014 page11)