No deal after Koreas talk again
Sides praise exchange after reports of North’s missile building
SEOUL, South Korea — High-level military talks between the two Koreas ended with no agreement Tuesday, but the top delegates said they had a meaningful discussion on easing their countries’ decadeslong standoff.
Experts said it was still unclear whether the rivals can reach any breakthrough agreement on reducing tensions in the near future because South Korea, in close consultation with the United States, must link any expansion of ties to progress in North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
The Washington Post reported Monday that U.S. intelligence agencies have obtained evidence that indicates North Korea is building new long-range missiles despite ongoing talks with the U.S. It cited anonymous officials “familiar with the intelligence” as saying that work on at least one and possibly two intercontinental ballistic missiles was underway.
Tuesday’s meeting at the Koreas’ shared border village of Panmunjom was the second such high-level military contact since the two countries’ leaders held a summit in April and pledged to reduce the danger of another war on the Korean Peninsula.
The chief South Korean delegate, Maj. Gen. Kim Do Gyun, said the two sides had a common view on disarming a jointly controlled area at Panmunjom, removing some guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the countries, halting hostile acts along their disputed sea boundary, and conducting joint searches for soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War in DMZ areas.
Kim said the Koreas will continue talks on the details of those issues, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
Kim described Tuesday’s talks as “sincere” and “candid,” saying he believes the two militaries could contribute to establishing a lasting peace between the countries. His North Korean counterpart, Lt. Gen. An Ik San, said the talks were “productive” and that he believes many pending military issues can be resolved.
During the April summit and a June meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But there have been concerns that North Korea hasn’t taken any serious disarmament measures since then.
North Korea suspended its missile and nuclear tests and shut down its nuclear test site, and recent satellite photos indicate it also began dismantling key facilities at its main rocket launch site. But many foreign experts believe those moves are not enough to prove it’s serious about disarmament, saying the North must first submit a list of nuclear assets to be dismantled.
Kim has made clear that he prefers a step-by-step disarmament process that is matched by reciprocal outside rewards and concessions for each step. North Korea is trying to revive an economy hit hard by American-led sanctions from the United Nations.
Many experts say North Korea merely intends to weaken the sanctions and has no intention of fully giving up its nuclear weapons.
On Friday, North Korea returned what were said to be the remains of American soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, something Kim promised during his summit with Trump. Trump thanked him for “fulfilling a promise” to send back U.S. remains and said it was a step in the right direction after their summit.
The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. North Korea has long argued its nuclear weapons are a response to U.S. military threats and has said it wants to sign a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the war.