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North Korea abruptly cancels military
talks with the UNNorth Korea abruptly cancels military talks with the UN
SUDDEN DELAY: Pyongyang requested a delay in talks with the US-led UN
Command, citing ¡¥administrative reasons,¡¦ as the two sides were to discuss a
South Korean warship¡¦s sinking
AP , SEOUL
Wednesday, Jul 14, 2010, Page 5
¡§[The North Korean military] may have yet to get Kim
Jong-il¡¦s approval for their strategy on the talks.¡¨¡ÐYang Moo-jin, professor at
the University of North Korean Studies
Visitors look toward North Korea through a
barbed wire fence strung with pro-unification messages at the border village of
Imjingak, Paju city, in South Korea yesterday.
PHOTO: AFP
North Korea¡¦s military abruptly canceled a rare meeting yesterday with the
US-led UN Command that had been arranged to discuss the deadly sinking of a
South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang.
Military officers from North Korea and the UN Command were to meet at the Korean
border village of Panmunjom yesterday morning to discuss the sinking, which
killed 46 South Korean sailors. It would have been the first such meeting since
the sinking, which sharply raised tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
The North requested a delay in the talks for ¡§administrative reasons,¡¨ the UN
Command said in a statement. A new meeting time was not immediately proposed.
An international investigation in May concluded that a North Korean submarine
fired a torpedo that sank the 1,090-tonne Cheonan near the tense Korean sea
border in late March. Pyongyang flatly denies it was responsible and has warned
any punishment would trigger war.
The UN Command, which oversees an armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953,
separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce, though the
findings have not been disclosed.
Late last month, the command proposed military talks with North Korea to review
its findings and initiate dialogue.
The North first rejected the offer, criticizing the US for allegedly trying to
meddle in inter-Korean affairs under the name of the UN, but it reversed its
position last week and proposed working-level talks at Panmunjom to prepare for
higher-level talks by general officers on the sinking.
The North Korean military¡¦s request means it feels it wasn¡¦t sufficiently
prepared for the meeting, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul¡¦s University
of North Korean Studies. ¡§They may have yet to get Kim Jong-il¡¦s approval for
their strategy on the talks,¡¨ he said, referring to the country¡¦s leader.
Yang, who expects a meeting to eventually take place, said it would serve a
¡§symbolic¡¨ purpose as a venue where North Korea and the US can engage in
dialogue and foster an atmosphere conducive to resuming international
disarmament talks on the North¡¦s nuclear program.
North Korea and the UN Command launched general-level talks in 1998 as a measure
to lessen tension between the sides. If a new round were realized, they would be
the 17th of their kind, according to the UN command.
The US stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War, which
ended in an armistice that has never been replaced with a permanent peace
treaty.
The UN Security Council on Friday last week approved a statement that condemned
the sinking but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea.
Also yesterday, Pyongyang repeated a regular accusation that the US and South
Korea are plotting to attack the North, citing ongoing US-led multilateral
military exercises off Hawaii.
The biennial Rim of the Pacific drills, or RIMPAC, involve warships from 14
nations, including South Korea, Japan and Australia. The maneuvers, which began
last month and run until Aug. 1, include finding submarines, clearing mines and
firing missiles.
¡§These actions are dangerous military provocations ... and reckless war
maneuvers¡¨ with North Korea as their main target, the country¡¦s main Rodong
Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has argued it was forced to develop nuclear bombs due to US threats.
Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking the country.
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