|
Two-star generals from South and North Korea met in Panmunjom on Tuesday to talk about security arrangements for trial runs of the reconnected cross-border Gyeongui and Donghae railway lines. But the meeting got off to a rocky start when the North Korean side insisted on discussing the two countries' western sea border, an issue which was not on the agenda.
North Korea demanded that the issue of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border that was drawn up after the Korean War, be included on the agenda of the military meeting. North Korea has insisted that the NLL is not the legitimate marine border in the West Sea, and a new border needs to be set.
 |
|
South Korea's Maj. Gen. Jeong Seung-jo (third from left) and his North Korean counterpart Gen. Kim Young-chol (third from right) talk before the start of the fifth round of general-level military discussions in the Panmunjeom truce village near the demilitarized zone on Tuesday.
|
 |
|
The North's chief delegate Kim Young-chol said, "I would like to clearly tell you that we never stressed that only the railway issue will be discussed this time." The South maintained that the NLL issue be discussed at higher-level defense ministerial talks.
During the conference, North Korean military leaders cracked jokes about U.S. President George W. Bush and criticized the Bush administration's policies on North Korea. A lieutenant general from North Korea said, "I saw a joke on the American Internet that President Bush granted a wish to a high school boy who saved Bush's life. 'Find somewhere to bury me,' the boy told him. Because when the boy's parents find out he saved President Bush, they'll kill him."
The South's chief representative Jeong Seung-jo shot back, saying the fact that such jokes about the president exist points to the advanced nature of America's democracy.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
