Seoul,February 10:Military talks between the rival Koreas have ”collapsed,” a unification ministry official in Seoul said today,
dealing a setback to efforts to defuse tension after the North
attacked a southern island in November.
The talks have collapsed; they haven’t even agreed on a date for their next meeting,” the official told Reuters, referring to the first talks between the neighbours since the attack on the island of Yeonpyeong, which killed four people and raised the threat of possible all-out war.
Colonels from the two Koreas, still technically at war since their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, had met at the truce village of Panmunjom to set the time and agenda for more senior dialogue.
The South demanded the North acknowledge its role in shelling of Yeonpyeong and an attack on a southern naval vessel in March that killed 46 sailors, but the North refused to discuss the issue, local media reported.
The defence ministry refused to comment. North Korea has denied sinking the naval vessel and blamed the Yeonpyeong attack on the South’s life-fire drills in disputed waters.
Analysts have said they expect talks between the two sides to follow a stop-start pattern and predicted any military talks could take weeks or possibly months.
Earlier today, the unification ministry raised the prospect that the neighbours could get together to discuss humanitarian issues.
————–REUTERS