Day 1: Inter-Korean Preparatory Military Talks

Col. Moon Sang-gyun (R) of South Korea shakes hands with Col. Ri Son-kwon of North Korea before starting preliminary military talks on Feb. 8. (Yonhap)

Nothing much has happened on Day 1 of inter-Korean working-level military talks, but I thought I might update everyone on what's happened so far:

- The talks are being held on the South Korean side of the border truce village of Panmunjeom among colonel-level officials.

• The plan is to hold preparatory talks before higher-level military talks in the future.
  
• The Feb. 8th talks reportedly lasted over nine hours and ended without an agreement on the agenda and rank of the officials for the envisioned higher-level military meeting.
  
• South Korea's opening position: The Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling must be discussed at the higher-level military talks. The current preparatory meeting would gauge Pyongyang's sincerity in taking responsibility for its actions while preventing further provocations.
  
• North Korea's opening position: Pyongyang claims that discussing the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island incidents exclusively is like rejecting higher-level military talks. It also wants to deal with these two issues simultaneously with establishing mutual trust.
  
• The two Koreas will meet again on February 9th at 10:00 a.m. (KST) for day 2 of talks.

Read more

South Korea, North Korea, military talks, Nukes on a Blog (all tags)