hankyoreh

Military officers from South and North Korea met briefly on Monday for the first time since the communist country conducted missile tests in July, but they failed to find a way to put stalled inter-Korean relations back on track, South Korean officials said.

"No agreement was made today. But both sides will review the demands from each other," said Army Col. Moon Sung-mook, chief of the three-member South Korean delegation to the talks. Moon briefed Unification Ministry officials on the outcome of the talks before holding a press briefing at the Defense Ministry.

During the two-hour talks at Tongilgak, the North Korean administrative building inside the truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border, Pak Ki-yong, the North's chief delegate, demanded a halt to anti-communist propaganda activities by conservative South Korean civic and religious groups, Moon said.

Pak argued that the activities violated an inter-Korean military agreement made in 2004 under which they agreed to stop issuing propaganda via publication, broadcasting or hand-out leaflets along the demilitarized zone.

"I pointed out that they should understand the diversity of South Korean society," Moon told reporters. He said both sides failed to set a date for a new round of military officers' talks.

Earlier this year, the groups delivered anti-communist messages via balloons across the border denouncing the North's communist regime and its leader Kim Jong-il. Pak claimed the groups conducted the same activities near the border on Sunday, according to Moon.

Pak also took issue with a South Korean opposition lawmaker's recent breach of regulations at the Mount Geumgang resort. The lawmaker was briefly detained before he was released for the return trip to Seoul.

"They asked us to ban South Korean tourists and officials from making provocative acts at the Mount Geumgang resort, including carrying cell phones, books, newspapers, magazines and GPS equipment there," Moon said.

Moon said he pressed for the resumption of inter-Korean defense chiefs' talks as well as Pyongyang's guarantee of the safe operation of cross-border railways during the talks.

On July 7, South Korea rejected North Korea's proposal to hold a liaison officers' meeting for general-grade military talks, citing heightened tension over North Korea's July 5 missile tests in defiance of warnings from S. Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

North Korea made a similar proposal last Thursday, and South Korea sent an acceptance message on Saturday, according to military officials.

Monday's military talks came as the two Koreas' relations are experiencing a chill due to the North's missile tests and its boycott of the six-way talks on its nuclear program.

Seoul has cut its regular food and fertilizer aid to Pyongyang since the missile tests, although it shipped a one-time aid package to help the communist regime recover from flood damage in the summer.

High-level military talks ended on May 18 without any arrangements to ensure the safe operation of cross-border railways or prevent armed conflict in the two nations' disputed western waters. The two sides failed to set a date for a new round of general-level military talks, and the communist country declined an offer to hold defense chiefs' talks.

Inter-Korean relations have warmed considerably since the 2000 summit of their leaders, but tension persists since the rival states are still technically in a state of war, as no peace treaty was signed at the end of the Korean War.
Seoul, Oct. 2 (Yonhap News)