Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Inter-Korean General-Level Military Talks Open

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

   Pyongyang, May 17 (KCNA) - The fourth north-south general-level military talks opened in the portion of the south side at Panmunjom Tuesday. Attending the talks was the delegation of the north side headed by Lieut. General of the Korean People's Army Kim Yong Chol.
    At the talks both sides continued the discussion on the agenda item of the previous talks "On military measures for preventing clashes in the waters of the West Sea of Korea and realizing joint fishing there."
    The head of the north side's delegation and the chief delegate of the south side spoke at the talks.
    The head of the north side's delegation underscored the need for the two sides to deepen the discussion on the agenda item and reach an agreement that would meet the expectations and wishes of the nation. Then he referred to the differences manifested in the stands of the two sides at the last talks and in the subsequent period.
    He emphasized the following points as ways of reaching a satisfactory agreement on a series of issues related to the agenda item:
    Both sides should take, among other things, the firm stand and approach to play a main role in finding an earliest possible solution to the issue of the waters in the West Sea and strictly abide by the principle of promoting the common prosperity and interests of the nation, the principle of respecting each other's territorial rights and the principle of defining a new military demarcation line in the waters to meet the legal and institutional requirements recognized at home and abroad on the basis of boldly discarding all their assertions that may trigger off clashes.
    He set forth the following proposals on removing the very cause of military clashes in the waters of the West Sea of Korea and realizing joint fishing there:
    Both sides should boldly discard all the divergent assertions about boundaries in the waters they have so far maintained, the very cause of military clashes.
    In order to reach an earliest possible agreement on non-aggression, both sides should fix the Military Demarcation Line in the waters of the West Sea as required by the Armistice Agreement and the publicly recognized international law and take various measures for building military confidence.
    The new MDL in the waters of the West Sea should be fixed on the principle of strictly respecting each other's right of territory and territorial waters.
    Accordingly, the north side should recognize the sovereignty of the south side over five islets in the West Sea and the issue of controlling the waters off islets around them should be defined under a reasonable agreement of both sides.
    The MDL in the waters where both sides are standing in confrontation with each other closely should be fixed on the principle of halving them and the MDL in other waters on the principle of respecting each other's right of territorial waters.
    They should have a working-level contact for fixing the MDL in the waters of the West Sea, depending upon agreeing to these principled matters.
    The joint fishing in the waters of the West Sea should be realized on the principle of strictly promoting the common prosperity and interests of both sides.
    Waters for joint fishing should be fixed in the direction of realizing the wishes of fishermen of the north and the south to conduct free fishing operations, while protecting precious aquatic resources of the nation in vast waters of the West Sea fraught with the danger of clashes.
    Waters for joint fishing should be fixed on the premise that the new MDL is defined in the waters of the West Sea.
    Even after the sea MDL is drawn, waters for joint fishing may be fixed in the waters under the control of the north side or in the waters under the control of the south side when both sides deem them favorable for joint fishing.
    In case the waters for joint fishing are fixed, both sides should opt for giving a military guarantee for joint fishing.
    When both sides agree to the above-said points, they should decide on the specific waters for joint fishing at a working-level contact for fixing the sea MDL and take measures for joint fishing including the method of joint fishing at a working-level contact of relevant specialists.
    The head of the north side's delegation went on to say:
    In order to find an early solution to the agenda item it is necessary for the two sides to focus their attention and efforts on settling their differences and to this end it is necessary to be bold enough to discard the wrong assertions that do not hold water.
    It is essential to give top priority to removing the very cause of clashes in the above-said controversial waters and opt for totally halting all the war exercises to be staged with the U.S. quite contrary to the atmosphere of dialogue, from the stand of defusing the tension. If the south side finds it quite hard to do so, it should take a measure of halting them for the time being while a series of dialogues are under way.
    If the south side is interested in putting an end to clashes and wiping out distrust and sincerely stands for confidence building, it should not hesitate to opt for removing the very cause of them but take such practical measures as ensuring the direct sailing of the north side's civilian ships to Haeju Port and their safe passage through the Jeju Straits as early as possible.
    The talks go on.