North, South Korea agree to hold talks
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North and South Korea have agreed to hold working-level talks in Panmunjom, a traditional point of contact on their border, after months of high tension.
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The two Koreas reached an agreement to send three representatives each to Panmunjom on Sunday for talks intended to ease the way for higher-level negotiations, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea issued a statement saying, “We propose holding talks between authorities of the North and the South for the normalization of the operation in the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ)….”
Later in the day, the South Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that Seoul “positively views North Korea’s proposal on official talks.”
“We hope that South and North Korea can build trust through this opportunity.”
Kaesong was launched inside North Korea in 2003 to boost ties between the two neighbors. There are 123 South Korean companies in the complex, employing both South and North Korean workers.
Pyongyang blocked access to the site and withdrew its 53,000 employees in May. South Korea also pulled out the last of its workers on May 3.
Seoul has paid 300 billion won (about USD 270 million) in emergency compensation to investors in Kaesong who had to shut down their firms.
The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of military rhetoric over the past few months.
The rhetoric escalated when the United States and South Korea held joint military exercises in April, with the participation of US nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers. North Korea censured the drills and warned Washington and Seoul against a “preemptive attack,” which could develop into an “all-out war.”
On June 1, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Seoul and Washington would maintain a strong alliance in the face of what they described as potential threats from North Korea.
