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Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Wednesday urged North Korea to cooperate so a joint statement of principles can be achieved at six-party talks on Pyongyang¡¯s nuclear program in Beijing. He was speaking in the North Korean capital at the start of the 16th round of inter-Korean ministerial talks.
The South¡¯s first order of business to maintain peace on the peninsula was to request the resumption of high-level military talks between the two Koreas, including the defense ministries. It also proposed the two Koreas set up liaison offices in each other¡¯s capitals.
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South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young talks with his North Korean counterpart Kwon Ho-ung at the 16th round of inter-Korean ministerial talks at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
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Seoul pressed Pyongyang on requests made in inter-Korean Red Cross talks in August to ascertain what happened to some 1,000 South Korean prisoners of war, some 500 who went missing during the Korean War and 430 presumed abducted after the war.
North Korea in its keynote address proposed a joint program in either Kaesong or Pyongyang to recruit and train managers for joint economic projects. It said the details should be worked out at the next Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee meeting.
Senior Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho-ung called for both countries to scrap any laws or regulations that go against mutual recognition and respect for the other side¡¯s system of government, in particular South Korea¡¯s anti-Communist National Security Law. He also urged Seoul to stop joint military exercises with the U.S. such as recent war games in preparation for an emergency on the Peninsula that concluded on Sept. 2.
The Southern delegation led by Chung visited the Gwangbeop temple at Mt.Daesong near Pyongyang and attended a show involving thousands of performers at the May Day Stadium.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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