hankyoreh

Feb. 16. (Photo by Kim Bong-gyu)

Kwon Hyuk-chul and Son Won-je, Staff Writers　

Working-level discussions in preparation of high-level inter-Korean military talks abruptly ended Wednesday in Panmunjeom without any results, sharply contrasting the initial expectations that a breakthrough was likely. The conclusion resulted from a failure to narrow their differences over the agenda of the talks.

North Korea walked out of talks Wednesday afternoon and returned North Korea, saying South Korea’s insistence on discussing only the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling appeared to be a rejection of high-level military talks themselves.

Prior to the start of Wednesday’s talks, the dominant prediction had been that an agreement would be reached in some form, as North Korea showed a positive attitude the day before with comments including, “We would like continue to talk, even through the night” and “Let us hold the main talks next week.” Moreover, the morning of the working-level talks, the South Korean government announced it agreed in principle with convening of inter-Korean Red Cross talks, seeming to further boost the likelihood of an agreement.

The talks ruptured, however, as both delegations refused to yield in their positions over additional agenda items other than the Cheonan sinking and the Yeonpyeong Island shelling. The talks began at 10 a.m. and terminated just 50 minutes later. South Korea stressed that no other matters could be discussed before North Korea agreed to take responsible measures regarding the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island. North Korea countered by calling for the addition to the agenda an item regarding the termination of military acts that could be regarded as mutual provocations by the respective military leaderships. This was a call to discuss the West Sea Northern Limit Line (NLL), South Korea-U.S. joint military drills and South Korean psychological warfare operations that resumed in May.

After the talks resumed in at 2:20 in the afternoon, South Korea stuck to its position, saying if a satisfactory result regarding the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island were produced, South Korea could discuss other matters of mutual interest, including the matters raised by North Korea, even the very next day. The North Korean delegation walked out just 10 minutes later.

“If other matters were discussed during high-ranking talks, it could dilute the issues of the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island,” said one military source. “Since South Korea said from the beginning that the working-level talks would be under the precondition that the agenda for high-ranking talks would be the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island, we could not yield.”

Since working-level discussions ended without a conclusion, it has also become unclear whether North Korea and South Korea will hold inter-Korean Red Cross talks. This is because the South Korean government planned to link whether to hold the talks and the exact date and venue to the results of the high-ranking military talks.

The development has also hindered predictions that holding successive high-ranking military talks and Red Cross talks would transform the inter-Korean relations from confrontation to dialogue.

A Defense Ministry official said, however, “The talks have ruptured for now, leaving open the possibility that additional working-level talks for high-ranking military talks could be held if one side proposes.”

Meanwhile, it appears the South Korean government’s announcement Wednesday that it agreed in principle to North Korea’s proposal for Red Cross talks was the result of a judgment that it would be difficult to ignore the proposal itself in the atmosphere of dialogue generated after last month’s China-U.S. summit. Former Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said it was an unavoidable choice in a structure in which the international community would blame whichever side refused a dialogue proposal. The reunion of separated families, the agenda of the Red Cross talks, is also a matter over which a number of South Koreans hold great expectations.

Some analysts have also stated that the acceptance of the Red Cross talks was a strategic move intended to lead a change in North Korea’s attitude regarding the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island. The South Korean government had indefinitely delayed convening the Red Cross talks, originally scheduled for Nov. 25, in the immediate aftermath of North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, and flatly rejected two North Korean proposals for Red Cross talks this year, calling them a veiled North Korean peace offensive.

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