DATE=8/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KOREAS TALKS (L)
NUMBER=2-265966
BYLINE=HYUN SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
TEXT: South Korea has proposed to North Korea that
they set up a military hotline and hold top-level
security talks between the two countries. As Hyun-Sung
Khang reports from Seoul, South Korea's unification
minister made the proposal in Pyongyang Wednesday
during a new round of formal ministerial-level talks.
TEXT: Accompanied by a four-member delegation,
South Korea's Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu
says the proposal of top-level military talks and
a military hotline will ease tensions between the
two Cold War enemies.
The chief North Korean delegate Jon Kum Jin did
not respond immediately to the proposals, but he
is quoted to have said later that there was
"considerable commonness" between the two sides.
However, the North Koreas did complain that a
joint military exercise presently being held
between the South and the United States was
damaging inter-Korean relations.
During the morning session of the talks, South
Korea also proposed signing an agreement that
would guarantee investment and avoid double
taxation. Economic analysts say this would help
promote economic cooperation between the two
Koreas.
This is the second round of ministerial talks,
since the June summit between the two Korean
leaders.
The first set of talks, held in Seoul last month,
resulted in an agreement to reopen liaison
offices in the border town of Panmunjom and
reconnect a railway between the two Koreas.
This meeting is part of a rapid thaw spreading
across the peninsula. The Koreas never concluded
a peace treaty after the Korean War ended in
1953. (signed)
NEB/HK/HSK/GC/JO
30-Aug-2000 04:34 AM LOC (30-Aug-2000 0834 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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