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South Korea proposes military, family reunion talks with North Korea

By Christine Kim

 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in attends a news conference in Berlin, Germany July 5, 2017. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Monday proposed military talks with North Korea this week, the first government-level talks since late 2015, in an effort to halt hostile activities near their joint border and after a series of missile tests by the North in recent weeks.

 

The proposal is the first formal overture by the government of President Moon Jae-in, who came to power in May pledging to engage the North in dialogue, as well as to apply pressure on Pyongyang to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula.

 

"We request military talks with the North on July 21 at Tongilgak to stop all hostile activities that raise military tension at the military demarcation line," South Korea's Vice Defence Minister Suh Choo-suk told a media briefing.

 

Tongilgak is a North Korean building at the Panmunjom truce village on the border used for previous inter-Korea talks. The last government-level talks were held in December 2015.

 

The proposal came roughly a week after Moon said the need for dialogue with North Korea was more pressing than ever to curb Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.

 

The vice defence minister did not elaborate on the meaning of hostile military activities, which varies between the two Koreas. South Korea usually refers to loudspeaker broadcasts and other provocations, while the North wants a halt to routine joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

 

Moon has suggested hostile military activities be halted at the inter-Korean border on July 27, the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.

 

The South Korean Red Cross on Monday proposed talks with the North to discuss reunions of family members separated during the Korean War. It suggested talks be held on August 1, with possible reunions over the Chuseok holiday, which falls in October this year.

 

Pyongyang has repeatedly said it refuses to engage in all talks with the South unless Seoul turns over 12 waitresses who defected to the South last year.

 

North Korea says the South abducted the 12 waitresses and the restaurant manager and has demanded their return, but the South has said the group decided to defect of its own free will.

 

The North has conducted two nuclear tests since the beginning of last year and missile-related activities at an unprecedented pace.

 

It conducted the first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this month, claiming to have mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile. South Korea and the United States dispute the claim.

 

In an act to rein in the North, the United States is preparing new sanctions on Chinese banks and firms doing business with Pyongyang possibly within weeks, two senior U.S. officials said last week.

 

(Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Paul Tait and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-17

[jaggiss]

The dear leader will never give up his nukes, why should he?
Nobody can do anything about it.
Just ignore him.

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[Kwasaki]

South & North to make peace will be good,  butt out American gov your nothing but trouble.

[hawker9000]

5 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

South & North to make peace will be good,  butt out American gov your nothing but trouble.

Butt out America-haters, you're nothing but useless, bothersome, envy-driven noise...

 

Pay them their tribute in "aid", and you can probably get various temporary concessions from fatboy.   But consider it "protection money"; he'll be back for more.  And more.  And more...   It's a time-proven technique.  ... 'For thugs and gangsters.   "Peace" and re-unification?   Why sure!   No problem!!   Just as long as it's under N. Korean rule!   (...which S. Korea would already have been enduring for over half a century, instead of free and democratic, had it not been for the sacrifice of over 35,000 American lives.)

 

 

[Kwasaki]

On 7/18/2017 at 2:03 AM, hawker9000 said:

Just as long as it's under N. Korean rule!   (...which S. Korea would already have been enduring for over half a century, instead of free and democratic,

Exactly S, Koreans are free and democratic and understand N.Koreans so let them deal with it.

You don't have to be hater of American governments to disagree with there interference just saying.

<<<< Off topic baiting comments removed >>>>

Edited July 22, 2017 by metisdead

[jaggiss]

And it wasn't just the yanks who gave their lives in the Korean war.

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[ilostmypassword]

10 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

Butt out America-haters, you're nothing but useless, bothersome, envy-driven noise...

 

Pay them their tribute in "aid", and you can probably get various temporary concessions from fatboy.   But consider it "protection money"; he'll be back for more.  And more.  And more...   It's a time-proven technique.  ... 'For thugs and gangsters.   "Peace" and re-unification?   Why sure!   No problem!!   Just as long as it's under N. Korean rule!   (...which S. Korea would already have been enduring for over half a century, instead of free and democratic, had it not been for the sacrifice of over 35,000 American lives.)

 

 

It should be pointed out that most of those American lives were lost because Truman MacArthur decided to invade North Korea right up to the Chinese border. And that's why China intervened and most American lives were lost. And why the South Koreans suffered such an horrendous loss of live that dwarfed American and other UN forces casualties.

 

And for much of its post Korean War history, South Korea was not "free and democratic". Certainly far better off than the North Koreans, but that's not the same thing as "free and democratic".

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[YetAnother]

if i was s korea, i would not Want to reunite