First Koreas talks since island shelling collapse

The first talks between the rival Koreas since the North’s deadly shelling of a Southern island in November collapsed on Wednesday, when the North’s negotiators walked out, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

Reuters/Truth Leem

A ministry spokesperson told the news agency AFP that the North’s delegation crossed the North/South border within ten minutes of walking out of the meeting.

“We can say the talks have collapsed,” he said, giving no details of the cause of the breakdown.

Initial talks in the border village of Panmunjon had been intended to set the date and agenda for higher-level military talks.

A defence ministry official was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying “the talks collapsed over differences over the agenda for high-level talks”.

The South has been demanding apologies for the shelling on 23 November of Yeonpyeong island, and the torpedoing of a Southern warship in March last year.

It insists that the high-level talks address both issues.

But the North places “the stoppage of all military actions that can be considered as provocative acts by the other side” at the top of the agenda.

Pyongyang insists that Yeonpyeong’s shelling was in retaliation for military exercises carried out by Seoul which dropped shells into the Northern waters.

Earlier Wednesday the South agreed in principle to hold separate Red Cross talks on reunions for families separated during the 1950-53 war, but linked these to the military dialogue.