Two Koreas set to hold crucial talks for summit; tension eases

Two Koreas set to hold crucial talks for summit; tension eases

SEOUL (AFP): North and South Korea are to hold a crucial
second round of talks to prepare for a historic inter-Korean
summit as attention is fixed on the agenda Pyongyang will
possibly table for the June meeting.

"We have prepared all possible scenarios and different
responses," a high-ranking South Korean government official was
quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

Three officials from each side led by a deputy minister will
meet on Thursday at Panmunjom village in the demilitarized zone
dividing the two Koreas, where the 1953 armistice was signed at
the end of Korean War.

During the first contact made on Saturday there, Seoul
proposed the summit discuss proposals made by President Kim Dae-
Jung in Berlin earlier this year.

The proposals include economic cooperation and exchange,
ending Cold War confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, reunion of
families separated by the division of Korea and continuing
dialogue.

The North demanded the two sides first discuss "basic issues"
at the summit, triggering speculation here that Pyongyang would
repeat its demands on highly sensitive issues such as the
abolition of the South's draconian anti-communist National
Security Law and the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

But officials here said there were encouraging signs emanating
from Pyongyang.

North Korea's propaganda mills stopped broadcasting invective
against Seoul and have been concentrating instead on preparing
North Koreans for the "Dear Leader" meeting with what it used to
call the head of the Southern "puppet regime," they said.

North Korea has also eased its military preparedness in the
sensitive maritime border with the South, according to Yonhap
news agency.

It quoted a high-ranking South Korean government official as
saying the North has moved missiles to less threatening positions
and reduced naval exercises in disputed waters in the Yellow Sea.

Officials from the South's defense ministry declined to
confirm the report.

These measures followed a joint announcement on April 10 that
Kim Dae-Jung will travel to Pyongyang to meet his North Korean
counterpart Kim Jong-Il in June.

"The Silkworm ground-to-ship missiles, which are deployed in
bases near the Northern Limit Line, have been put back from a
combat readiness position to a normal position," the government
official was quoted as saying.

With a range of between 80 and 95 kilometers, these China-
developed missiles would pose a serious threat to South Korean
vessels in the event of hostilities in the Yellow Sea, military
experts here say.

The Northern Limit Line refers to an unmarked maritime border
which was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations at
the end of the Korean War in 1953 to prevent contacts with North
Korean ships.

But the North has never acknowledged the line. In March, it
unilaterally proclaimed a new zone and threatened military action
against any ships which strayed from the narrow water channels it
had indicated in the disputed waters.

The South Korean official said the North also moved FROG-7
rockets back from frontline bases on the western coast. These
rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers were deployed forward
earlier this year.

"Some 10 patrol boats, which had staged top-speed, combat-
ready maneuvers between December last year and March this year in
the Yellow Sea, have been lowering the intensity of training," he
said.

Warships from the two Koreas fought a bloody gunbattle in the
disputed waters last June in which at least one North Korean
torpedo boat was sunk and up to 30 sailors killed.

Since the two Koreas jointly announced the summit, Pyongyang
also stopped broadcasts urging the South to comply with the new
zoning, he said.

The North Korean moves were seen as a gesture aimed at
creating a favorable atmosphere ahead of the summit, he said. It
also reflected the North Korean military's support for the
summit, he added.