South Korean military calls for accord with its rival North

South Korean military calls for accord with its rival North

Sang-Hun choe, Associated Press/Seoul

The North and South Korean militaries on Thursday discussed how to implement an agreement aimed at easing hostilities along their border, as the South sought military cooperation with its former battlefield foe following a U.S. plan to curtail American troops here.

South Korea's efforts to ease tensions along the Demilitarized Zone, the world's most heavily armed border, gained an added urgency after Washington said earlier this week that it wanted to withdraw one-third of the 37,000 American troops in South Korea by the end of next year.

U.S. troops have stayed here since the 1950-53 Korean War, buttressing South Korea's defense against the communist North. A U.S. troop cut would force Seoul to expand its military budget and - many South Koreans fear - could leave the Korean Peninsula a less stable place should the North Korean army attempt border skirmishes, as it did in 1999 and 2002.

"We inevitably have to seek inter-Korean military cooperation, given changes taking place in the security situation on the Korean Peninsula," said South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun.

At Kaesong, a North Korean town just north of the western border, colonels of the two countries' militaries met to flesh out details of an accord struck last week in the first face-to- face meeting of generals from the North and South since the Korean War.

At the talks last week, the two sides agreed to adopt a standard radio frequency and signaling system for their navies to avoid confusion that could lead to clashes at sea.

They also agreed to end propaganda along their land border. Loudspeaker broadcasts will be stopped, and signboards will be dismantled, beginning next week.

Navy boats from the two sides clashed in 1999 and 2002 and another such confrontation could complicate international negotiations aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons program.

Both Koreas want to avoid deadly naval clashes during the current crab-catching season, when fishing boats from the two countries operate along their poorly defined western maritime border.

The inter-Korean military talks have coincided with discussions between Seoul and its key ally Washington on realigning U.S. troops stationed in the South to meet American goals of reducing its forces abroad and making them more flexible.

The United States promised to keep its main ground combat unit - the First Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division - in South Korea even after the troop cut, Kim Sook, a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official, said in an interview with Seoul's PBC Radio on Thursday. The division's 2nd Brigade, consisting of 3,600 ground troops, is scheduled to move to Iraq this summer.

On the eve of Thursday's talks, North Korea accused the South's navy of incursions across the maritime border constituting "a very dangerous military gamble which may spark off another skirmish."

Despite the warning, however, North Korea showed a "sincere attitude" during Thursday's talks, Jeong said.

The talks were continuing on Thursday night, 12 hours after they began, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. No further details were available.

The talks followed South Korean news reports that the North recently successfully tested what is thought to be the engine for its Taepodong-2 missile.

Analysts believe the missile could be capable of reaching the United States, although there are widespread doubts about its range and accuracy.

The reports could not be verified. But Jeong said that if the reports were true, the test firing was likely a negotiating tactic ahead of upcoming six-nation talks on the North's nuclear weapons program.

The United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia are expected to meet this month in Beijing for those talks, South Korean officials have said.

North and South Korea often accuse each other of violating their shared border. The South recognizes a maritime border demarcated by the United Nations after the end of the Korean War, but the North claims a boundary further south.

The Korean War ended in a truce, but the two sides have yet to sign a peace treaty.