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South, North Korea Agree to Hold Military Talks

ROK Government Information Agency
May 8, 2004

South and North Korea agreed to hold general-grade-officer level military talks as early as this month at the 14th inter-Korean ministerial talks. The talks wrapped up a four-day session on Friday (May 7) in Pyongyang.

The agreement came at the 11th hour consultations between the two sides on the final day.

In an extra round of meeting between the two chief delegates, Kwon Ho-ung, the North's top negotiator, told his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Se-hyun, that North Korean military authorities have given their consent to holding the meeting. The two Koreas agreed to hold the military talks to prevent possible tensions in the West Sea during their February meeting, but the talks have not taken place yet as North Korea held out.

Earlier, following the final official meeting, the two sides issued a joint press statement summing up four days of negotiations, but they had to amend the statement to include the clause, "The two sides agreed to hold military talks."

"Even though the exact timeframe for the military talks has yet to be agreed upon, it will likely be around the middle of this month," Jeong said at a press conference after returning to Seoul.

The two parties also agreed to resume cabinet-level dialogue in Seoul on Aug. 3-6. Jeong said that the two sides came to the view that the 10th round of cross-border family reunion should be staged around June 20.

The southern and northern delegations have had one round of contact between the top negotiators and five rounds of working-level officials' talks. But, as late as the morning of May 7, they had been unable to narrow down the differences over the military talks.