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DPRK, ROK ties warm ahead of new talks

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-30 07:50

A DPRK soldier looks south as a Republic of Korea (ROK) soldier stands guard at the concrete border separating the DPRK and ROK at the Panmunjom truce village in the demilitarized zone. [Photo/ Agencies]

BEIJING - A series of working-level military talks will be held between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday, Seoul's Defense Ministry has announced.

The upcoming talks will be the first of their kind in two years, amid signs of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The meeting, involving three officers from each side, will take place at the border truce village of Panmunjom, at 10 am, on a date proposed by ROK officials.

The talks were first proposed by Pyongyang two weeks ago, in an effort to address border disputes, including measures to prevent naval conflicts along the tense Yellow Sea border and the distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by ROK's activists across the border.

Seoul, in response, said the talks should focus on Pyongyang's reported responsibility in the deadly sinking of an ROK warship in March.

Inter-peninsula ties have worsened since DPRK pulled out of the Six-Party Talks last year, as a protest against sanctions by the international community against its nuclear program.

Relations plunged to their lowest point after Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing its warship, Cheonan, in March leading to the loss of 46 lives. Pyongyang has since denied any involvement.

The incident was then followed by a series of military drills between Seoul and Washington - the latest of which occurred on Monday. Pyongyang declared the maneuvers as a direct threat to its national security.

In response, the DPRK is in the course of preparing for the largest military parade in its history - one involving thousands of soldiers, tanks, missile and rocket launchers for a "large-scale national ceremony," according to the KCNA, the country's official news agency.

Meanwhile, however, DPRK officials have also stepped up conciliatory gestures toward the ROK since this month.

They have, most notably, returned a detained ROK fishing boat and its crew, proposed a resumption of family reunions and accepted flood aid from its neighbor.

In a landmark conference on Tuesday, the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-il was re-elected to the post of supreme leader in the Worker's Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party since the country's foundation in 1948. Of equal importance, Kim also designated his son Kim Jong-un to the rank of general.

Experts believe that the opening of the DPRK's ruling party meeting cast a light on the future of the peninsula.

"After the new successor of the DPRK turned out to be clear, the DPRK is hoping to ease tensions with the ROK," said Jin Canrong, professor at Beijing-based Renmin University of China. "The resumption of the military talks indicated the flexibility of Pyongyang toward Seoul."

"The DPRK's ruling party meeting had reached some resolutions, which seemingly showed that DPRK's leaders planned to adjust its foreign policies, especially on the relations with the ROK," said Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies.

Indeed, Kim Jong-il also "wishes to show his statesmanship to the world," he said.

Li noted that it was unexpected that Pyongyang took such a friendly stance on ROK-US's third military drill.

"The relationship between the DPRK and the ROK is turning from hard confrontation in the past to that of soft engagement," Li noted. "It's at least a clue of the improving ties between the two countries."

All sides, he added, "could have an optimistic expectation on the situation in the peninsula".

The upcoming military talks, however, will have a limited effect on the quick resumption of the Six-Party Talks, analysts predicted.

China Daily-Agencies