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North Koreans âWalked Outâ of Military Talks with South

   Steve Herman | Seoul  February 09, 2011
   North  Korean  Colonel  Ri  Son-kwon  (front R) and other North Korean
   officers  walk  south of the truce village of Panmunjom in Paju, north
   of Seoul, February 8, 2011

Photo: Reuters

   North  Korean  Colonel  Ri  Son-kwon  (front R) and other North Korean
   officers  walk  south of the truce village of Panmunjom in Paju, north
   of Seoul, February 8, 2011

   Preliminary  military  talks between the two Koreas have ended without
   any  agreement.  The  two sides had hoped to arrange a meeting between
   senior officers.
   Colonels  from  the North and South Korean militaries met for a second
   day  in  the  truce  village  of  Panmunjom. But Wednesday afternoonâs
   session  lasted  about  20  minutes.  A  South Korean Defense Ministry
   official says the North Korean delegation "walked out"â
   The  talks  ended with no agreement on an agenda for a meeting of more
   senior officers or even a date for another working-level meeting.
   The  two  Koreas,  however, are considering holding Red Cross talks so
   they  can  resume  reunions of families separated on the peninsula for
   decades.
   Unification  Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said Seoul on Wednesday
   responded  to  the  Northâs request to resume dialogue on humanitarian
   issues.
   Lee  says  the  notification  does  not  mean  that  the two Red Cross
   societies  will  actually hold talks, but, rather the South agrees, in
   principle,  to  the  Northâs suggestion that the talks should be held.
   Details  of the meeting, she adds, will be discussed as Seoul monitors
   the conditions of South-North relations.
   The  military  talks  had offered hope that tensions could be eased on
   the  peninsula. But officials here say the Northâs delegation rebuffed
   the  Southâs  attempt to focus discussion on two lethal incidents last
   year.
   Seoul  insisted  that  Pyongyang  apologize for the sinking of a South
   Korean  navy  ship  last  March  and an artillery attack on Yeonpyeong
   island in November.
   North Korea denies any connection to the explosion that sent the South
   Korean  ship  to the bottom of the Yellow Sea. It has expressed regret
   for  the  civilian casualties, but offered no apology for the shelling
   of Yeonpyeong.
   Officials indicated the collapse of the military talks could delay Red
   Cross discussions.
   Also  Wednesday, South Korea indicated it would allow 31 North Koreans
   who  drifted  into  its  waters to return home. They were on a fishing
   boat  that  crossed  over  the sea border Saturday. They were taken to
   Incheon for questioning by South Korean authorities.
   North Korea has demanded their return.
   South  Koreaâs  Unification  Ministry  says  it will respect the âfree
   willâ of the individuals, who have not expressed any desire to defect.
   The  two  Koreas  have  no  diplomatic  relations. After a devastating
   three-year  civil  war  in  the early 1950âs a truce - but not a peace
   treaty - went into effect.

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