Defense ministers of two Koreas resume talks, discuss tension-easing measures

In this story: Other issues Meeting linked to summit Famine fears RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

CHEJU, South Korea -- The defense ministers of South and North Korea on Tuesday began a second day of talks to discuss tension-easing measures on their divided peninsula.

South Korean Defense Minister Cho Sung-tae and Kim Il Chul, minister for the People's Army of North Korea, are expected to release a joint statement later Tuesday following the talks on Cheju, a resort island off South Korea's southern coast.

On Monday, the two officials agreed to open working-level military talks to discuss clearing mines to reconnect a cross-border rail line, South Korean officials said. Hundreds of thousands of mines are buried in the Demilitarized Zone, a buffer zone that separates the two Koreas.

During their 1 1/2-hour talk on Monday, the defense ministers "shared a basic understanding" that their militaries should support the agreements of the June summit between the leaders of North and South Korea. At the June summit, the two Koreas agreed to seek eventual reunification, said Brig. Gen. Yoon Il-young, spokesman for Seoul's Defense Ministry.

VIDEO CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae reports on the future of relations between North and South Korea Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

The fact that the two defense chiefs were discussing cooperation was seen as a great stride toward peace on the peninsula. Their border is guarded by nearly 2 million battle-ready troops on both sides, barbed wire, minefields, and artillery and missiles that can reach each other's capitals.

Dressed in an olive green uniform, Kim smiled and shook hands with Cho, a former general, at the beginning of their talks in a five-star hotel on the South Korean resort island of Cheju. Delegates from both sides included generals and colonels.

Cho proposed establishing a committee to deal with military cooperation for the road and rail project, scheduled to be completed next September, including cooperation on the removal of land mines, according to Yoon.

An estimated 1 million land mines are planted in the countries' demilitarized zone, which is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide.

Other issues

South Korea had also planned to propose establishment of a military "hot line" phone connection as well as the notification of large troop movements and observation of major military exercises.

Also Monday, delegations from both Koreas met in Seoul to discuss boosting badly needed investment in the impoverished, communist North.

The two sides also planned to discuss establishing direct bank transactions between the two Koreas and a mechanism for settling future business disputes, said Lee Keun-kyong, the chief South Korean delegate.

The Korean Peninsula was divided into North Korea and the pro-Western South at the end of World War II. The two armed forces have periodically engaged in skirmishes and confrontations since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Meeting linked to summit

Monday's talks stemmed from the historic June summit in Pyongyang between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the North's leader, Kim Jong Il.

"The two sides shared the view in principle they will try to militarily ensure the actual implementation of the historic June declaration," Yoon told reporters after the talks.

"Besides the military cooperation in relinking a railway and road across the border, the two sides agreed to continue to discuss other confidence-building measures," Yoon said.

The spokesman said any agreements would be announced in a joint communiquŽ at the end of the talks on Tuesday.

A senior South Korean foreign ministry official said the South also proposed holding a second defense ministers' meeting in Pyongyang in November. Yoon said a decision on regular talks had not been reached.

Despite the rapidly warming ties between the two old enemies, little progress has so far been made in reducing military tension between them.

Famine fears

The talks come as North Korea faces another tough winter with more severe food shortages looming.

South Korean President Kim said on Sunday that North Korea, hard hit by recent droughts and typhoons, could face even worse food shortages next year and urged Japan to send more food aid.

North Korea said on Monday that the hunger-stricken communist state has lost over 1.4 million tons of grain because of drought, heat waves and tropical storms this year.

"It is certain that the shortage of food will continue next year, too," North Korea's official foreign news outlet, KCNA, quoted a government statement as saying.

The Rome-based United Nations World Food Program launched another appeal for food aid for the isolated North this month, saying nearly 8 million of North Korea's 22-million population would be short of food unless donors come up with $100 million.

North Korea said much of its farmland received little rain during the sowing season for rice and corn, two main crops in North Korea.

CNN Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
North Korea: Politics and Government
North Korea
South-North Korean Summit
UniKorea

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