South and North Korea plan to hold military talks this week, the first since the North fired seven missiles in July, the South's Defense Ministry said Sunday.
"North Korea suggested a meeting between the chief delegates to the working-level inter-Korean military talks through a telephone message on Sept. 28, and we informed it two days later of our decision to accept the proposal," the ministry said.
The one-day meeting is to take place on Monday at in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas, it added.
It will be the first inter-Korean military talks since they held the fourth round of general-level talks in May, and also the first inter-Korean contact in almost three months.
The agenda of the forthcoming talks remains unknown, as the North just said it wants to discuss existing military agreements between the two Koreas.
"I have no idea yet what the North wants to talk about," said Col. Moon Sung-mook, chief of the North Korea policy team at the South Korean Defense Ministry. Moon is Seoul's chief delegate to the working-level military talks with Pyongyang.
Through several rounds of on-and-off bilateral military talks, the two Koreas agreed to ensure the safe operation of cross-border railways and prevent armed conflict in the two nations' disputed waters in the West Sea. But they have yet to draw up detailed plans to deal with the sensitive issues.
"The North may raise unexpected issues. So it is hard to say if the meeting is positive or negative," Moon added.
On July 3, North Korea proposed to South Korea to hold the working-level military talks to resume a general-level discussion, but the South rejected the proposal when the North test-launched seven ballistic missiles two days later.
"We rejected the proposal at that time and sent a protest message, but our basic position is to ease military tension on the Korean Peninsula and build up trust," Moon said.
Monday's military talks come as the two Koreas' relations have been chilled due to the North's missile tests and its boycott of the six-way talks on its nuclear program.
Seoul has cut its regular food and fertilizer aid to Pyongyang since the missile tests, although it shipped a one-time aid package to help the communist regime recover from flood damage in the summer.
Seoul, Oct. 1 (Yonhap News)
Two Koreas to hold working-level military talks Monday |
