Tuesday, July 24, 2007


PANMUNJOM, Korea, Jul. 24, 2007 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- The two Koreas ended the opening day of high-level military talks in disagreement Tuesday, as North Korea renewed its long-running demand that the western sea border with the South be redrawn.

The sea border dispute has been widely considered a deal-breaker in the talks, which resmumed again on Wednesday morning. The meeting ends Thursday.

North Korea does not recognize the current sea border demarcated by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and claims the border is too far north.

South Korea has rejected the North's claim, saying the current border should be respected.

'The South side is persistently evading the fundamental solution to the issue of preventing clashes in the waters' off the peninsula's west coast, the North's chief delegate, Lt. Gen. Kim Yong Chol, told his South Korean counterpart, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency.

Kim was echoing the North's long-held position that redrawing the disputed boundary is the key to preventing skirmishes in the waters near the border _ the scene of deadly clashes in 1999 and 2002.

The South Korean delegation said it rejected the North's demand for a new sea border.

'We stressed again that our position ... is firm,' said Col. Moon Sung-mook, spokesman for the South's delegation.

The talks began Tuesday morning at the truce village of Panmunjom in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone running between North and South, and ended for the day just three hours later.

Despite the earlier-than-expected ending of the opening session, Moon said the talks' atmosphere was 'not bad.'

'We ended the talks early because the two sides sufficiently put forward positions ... and decided it would be more effective and productive to go back and review those issues and meet against tomorrow,' he said.

This week's talks _ the highest-level regular dialogue channel between the two militaries _ are aimed at fleshing out agreements reached at their previous session in May. The agreements include setting up a joint fishing area around their disputed maritime border and preparing security arrangements for joint economic projects near the border.

North Korea's naval command has issued a series of warnings in recent months that a skirmish along the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea could occur again unless South Korean vessels stop entering the North's waters.

The waters around the border are rich fishing grounds, and boats from the two Koreas routinely jostle for position during the May-June crab-catching season.

The Korean War ended in a cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty _ leaving the two sides technically at war.

Newstex ID: AP-0001-18378681


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