Military Talks

[Anchor Lead]

South and North Korea held their ninth general-level military talks at the Panmunjeom border village on Tuesday. The two Koreas have narrowed their differences on measures to disarm the Joint Security Area and jointly excavating war remains in the demilitarized zone.

[Pkg]

The two Koreas held their second general-level military talks since the April 27th inter-Korean summit. The two sides discussed ways to ease military tensions as agreed to in the summit agreement. South and North Korea narrowed down on views on disarming the Joint Security Area in the Panmunjeom border village and to conduct joint excavation of remains of the Korean War dead in the demilitarized zone. They also shared an understanding on pulling out guard posts from the DMZ on a trial basis. Though the two sides failed to agree on turning the Northern Limit Line, a de facto sea border, into a peace zone, they did discuss ways to halt hostile activities against each other at sea. To this aim, they reached consensus on suspending firing practices in the Yellow Sea and shutting down gunports on warships and along coastal areas. However, the two sides failed to produce a joint statement on the discussions. An official at Seoul's defense ministry said this is because more talks are necessary to sort out details on the time and method of implementation. The South Korean delegation regarding the Tuesday talks said that if a reasonable implementation plan is crafted, the military authorities of the two Koreas can play a key role in building lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.