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North Korea, UN Command Hold Military Talks (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...0Is&refer=home

By Heejin Koo

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command held talks for the first time in six years to reduce tension amid reports the communist country is preparing to test a ballistic missile.

The “general officer level” talks began at 10 a.m. today in the heavily fortified village of Panmunjom that straddles North and South Korea, U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Dave Palmer said. North Korea requested the meeting on Feb. 28, he said.

“These talks can be useful in building trust and preventing misunderstanding, as well as introducing transparency regarding the intentions of both sides,” Palmer said. The UNC will issue a statement later today on the result of the talks.

Tensions have risen on the Korean peninsula since U.S. and South Korean officials said the North is preparing to test a missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska. North Korea appears to be assembling a rocket that it said will carry a satellite into space, Seoul-based Yonhap News said two days ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is sending her new North Korea envoy to three Asian capitals and Russia this week for nuclear disarmament talks. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth will visit Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Moscow in an effort to advance the deadlocked six-party negotiations.

Technically At War

North and South Korea are technically still at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace agreement. North Korea signed the armistice in Panmunjom in July 1953 with U.S. military officials who headed the UN Command because it refused to recognize the government of South Korea.

The military demarcation line that lies on the 38th parallel is one of the world’s most fortified borders, strewn with landmines and divided by layers of wire fences. More than 1.7 million troops face off on the two sides, including 28,500 U.S. forces stationed in South Korea.

North Korea on Feb. 28 accused “U.S. border imperialist aggression forces” of conducting provocative maneuvers including the photographing of a North Korean border post.

“Such acts perpetrated by U.S. forces in areas along the MDL at the tacit connivance of the south side at a time when the north-south relations are inching close to the brink of a war may touch off unpredictable military conflicts,” the official Korea Central News Agency said on Feb. 28.

North Korea recently increased its rhetoric against South Korea, criticizing what it called “hostile policies” by President Lee Myung Bak. Kim Jong Il’s regime in January said it would scrap all military and political agreements with the South and disregard the maritime boundary, known as the northern limit line.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heejin Koo in Seoul at hjkoo@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: March 1, 2009 21:52 EST