• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

North-South Ministerial Talks Open

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

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- The 20th North-South Ministerial Talks were opened here Wednesday. Present there were members of the north side's delegation to the talks headed by Chief Councilor of the Cabinet Kwon Ho Ung and its suite members and members of the south side's delegation to the talks with Minister of Unification Ri Jae Jong as its chief delegate and its suite members.
    Kwon Ho Ung in his keynote speech looked back on the north-south relations that remained stalled for the past seven months. Recalling that the north-south relations witnessed repeated suspension and resumption, he held that this abnormal situation should not be allowed to repeat itself any longer.
    To this end, it is necessary to refrain from sacrificing the interests of the nation for the sake of the relations with the outsiders under any circumstances but solve issues arising in the bilateral relations strictly in the idea of "By our nation itself," he added.
    He advanced a series of proposals to bring the inter-Korean relations back on track and improve them as early as possible.
    Firstly, he underscored the necessity to abide by the principle of giving priority to the nation and attaching importance to it and take practical measures to respect the other party.
    Recalling that the north side clarified more than once that it considers it as a principled and basic issue to be settled in the inter-Korean relations to recognize and respect the ideology and system of the other party, he asserted the need to promptly take necessary practical measures.
    He also called on both sides to settle all the bilateral issues through dialogue and negotiations in a responsible manner on the principle of ensuring national cooperation and in the basic spirit of the June 15 joint declaration no matter how the situation may change.
    Secondly, he urged the authorities of both sides to take the lead in achieving the great national unity and actively promote cooperation in various fields. He urged the authorities of the north and the south to take practical bold measures to abolish all legal and institutional mechanisms standing in the way of achieving the national unity within the first half of the year.
    He held that the authorities of the north and the south should render positive support in making arrangements for the grand festivals for national reunification slated to take place in Pyongyang and in a place of the south side on the occasions of June 15 and August 15, to begin with, and take initiative in attending them.
    He also proposed holding the 13th meeting of the North-South Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation in Pyongyang within March and discussing issues of bilateral concern as an immediate task in order to positively push forward multi-faceted cooperation undertakings in various fields including that in the economic field.
    Thirdly, he proposed actively pushing forward humanitarian cooperation undertakings between the two sides.
    Asserting the need to consistently push ahead with these undertakings strictly from a compatriotic stand and on the principle of mutual assistance, a beautiful trait peculiar to the Korean nation, he called for comprehensively resuming all the suspended cooperation undertakings right after the talks are over and holding the north-south Red Cross talks as well.
    Then followed a keynote speech by the south side's chief delegate.
    The talks will run through March 2.