Saturday, September 2, 2000
No progress on military issues
in talks between Koreas
By
Jim Lea
Osan bureau chief
South and North Korean negotiators on Thursday agreed to hold two more family reunions this year but failed to work out military issues and extended ministerial talks by one day, a Unification Ministry spokesman said in Seoul.
While the second round of ministerial talks originally were to end Thursday, Seoul’s delegation asked for another meeting on Friday to discuss military issues, the spokesman said. Little headway was expected to be made, he said.
Lee Chung-won, a ministry spokesman in Seoul, said the extension was partly to adjust language of a joint announcement that was expected Friday.
More detailed talks reportedly will be held at the third ministerial meeting, tentatively planned to be held in Seoul in October.
South Korea’s delegation went to Pyongyang this week hoping to get North Korea to agree to open a military hot line between the countries and to hold talks between defense ministers. Such measures, the South believes, will help prevent war.
Creating an atmosphere in which unification of the two Koreas can be realized is the central aim of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s so-called "sunshine policy" toward the North. Kim has said he does not expect unification to occur during his lifetime and probably will take as long as 30 years.
Some U.S.-based North Korea watchers said immediately after the historic Inter-Korean Summit in June that they believe Pyongyang’s leaders have made no fundamental change in their attitude toward the South.
The first reunions since 1985 of families separated by the Korean War were held last month. One hundred people from the North visited relatives in the South, and 100 southerners visited relatives in the North.
The two countries are trying to work out a permanent meeting place for such reunions. The South favors the Korean War truce village of Panmunjom, while the North wants to hold the reunions at its Mount Kumgang National Park.
In the Pyongyang talks, the two sides also agreed to open working-level talks on establishing a legal framework for economic dealings between the two countries. Among other things, that would include a prohibition against dual taxation.
The two sides also agreed to allow tourism exchanges in September, the Unification Ministry spokesman said. In that program, 100 North Koreans will visit Mount Halla on South Korea’s Cheju Island, and 100 South Koreans will visit Mount Paektu on the North Korean-Chinese border.
The date of the visits has yet to be finalized, the spokesman said.
The South’s delegation to the talks did not get a chance to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who was not in Pyongyang.
The delegation instead met with Kim Yong Nam, the North’s ceremonial head of state, the spokesman said.
Bae Gi-chul and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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