Two Koreas to hold military talks on May 26: official<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse
\nSeoul\/Beijing<\/p>\n
North and South Korea will on May 26 hold their first general-
\nlevel military talks since the war on the peninsula ended five
\ndecades ago, defense officials said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"Today, the North offered to hold the first round of general-
\nlevel inter-Korean military talks at 10 a.m. (8:00 a.m. in
\nJakarta) on May 26 in Mount Kumgang. We have no problems in
\nagreeing to this,\" a defense ministry official told AFP.<\/p>\n
Both sides plan to have a border meeting between their liaison
\nofficers on Friday to fix details on talks, he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States
\nof planning war as envoys from six countries opened delicate
\nworking-level talks here aimed at defusing a standoff over the
\ncommunist regime's nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of North Korea's ruling Workers'
\nParty, urged South Korea to join with the North in opposing what
\nit said was a U.S. scheme to unleash military conflict on the
\npeninsula.<\/p>\n
\"A touch-and-go tension in the true sense of the word is
\npersisting in Korea due to the U.S. imperialists' reckless moves
\nto start a war against (North Korea) under the pretext of the
\nnuclear issue,\" it said.<\/p>\n
\"Unavoidable is the confrontation between the Koreans in the
\nnorth and the south, who are advancing along the road of peace
\nand peaceful reunification, and the U.S., which is working to
\nblock it.\"<\/p>\n
At a cabinet-level meeting in Pyongyang last week, the two
\nKoreas agreed to hold the military talks aimed at easing tensions
\non the divided Korean peninsula but failed to fix the date.<\/p>\n
The two Koreas are technically at war since the 1950-1953
\nKorean conflict ended in a fragile armistice rather than a peace
\ntreaty.<\/p>\n
Despite launching cabinet-level talks for rapprochement in
\n2000, neither side has maintained a general-level military
\ndialogue.<\/p>\n
Specific agenda items have yet to be finalized for the talks,
\nbut officials in Seoul have said the initial discussions should
\ntackle military tensions in the rich fishing fields off the
\nwestern coast.<\/p>\n
Although little emerged from the closed-door talks, it
\nappeared that the U.S. and North Korean sides remained far apart
\non fundamental issues.<\/p>\n
According to reports in the Japanese media, Kim Jong-il, North
\nKorea's reclusive dictator, told Chinese leaders during a recent
\nvisit to Beijing that he would not give up the peaceful use of
\nnuclear energy.<\/p>\n
North Korea has also made clear that even if it were to
\nabandon its attempt to build nuclear bombs -- a program whose
\nexistence has not been definitively proven, it would want some
\nkind of reward.<\/p>\n
The US government, meanwhile, has insisted that North Korea
\ngive up its nuclear program without the promise of any immediate
\nquid pro quo.<\/p>\n
\"It's in North Korea's best interest to embrace the
\nopportunities provided by the six-party talks,\" a U.S. embassy
\nofficial said.<\/p>\n
However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited reports that
\nthe U.S. and Japanese delegates, meeting on Tuesday ahead of the
\nworking-level talks, supported a South Korean offer of energy aid
\nto North Korea.<\/p>",
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