a move suggesting that deep tensions continue to linger on the Korean
peninsula following two deadly attacks by the north last year.
The preliminary talks between two military colonels
at the border village of Panmunjom — the first between the two sides in
four months — had been designed to set a date for higher-level military
talks. But the discussions collapsed Wednesday afternoon, leaving
“The talks failed to narrow differences over the agenda for a high-level meeting,” said
Kim said the north’s representatives “unilaterally walked out of a meeting room.”
South Korean officials said the two sides remained
far apart on a host of issues. The first day of talks Tuesday began
ominously, with the two sides haggling over the agenda and other key
terms of higher-level talks, officials said.
refused to take responsibility for the March torpedo attack on a South
Korean warship that killed 46 crewmen. The north has denied any
involvement in the sinking.
in November was legitimate because the south had provoked it with what
northern officials called live-fire drills into North Korean waters.
The U.S. has insisted that
must admit its role in the killing of the South Korean sailors before
the U.S. and its allies will return to the so-called six-party talks
aimed at disarming the north’s nuclear program.
The talks, which involve the two Koreas, the U.S.,
Analysts say the collapse of the talks suggests an ominous future for the region. South Korean President
has hinted that he is growing wary of the north’s strategy in recent
years of stirring up tension between the two sides only to later return
to the bargaining table as a way to secure food and financial aid for
the struggling regime.
“Both official and public opinion in
tried-and-true strategy of increasing military tension on the peninsula
as a means of extracting economic aid from the south, and then agreeing
to talks to reduce the tension, may have run its course,” said
its own agenda for the two days of talks. Officials complained about a
policy of the south to send propaganda leaflets into the north
denouncing Kim Jong Il’s regime. Rather than apologize for past
violence,
instead demanded that the two discuss measures to halt future
provocative military acts as the main agenda for the higher-level
meetings.
Wednesday’s talks began on a positive note with both
sides agreeing to hold talks on reuniting families separated by the
conflict that ended in a stalemate in 1953.
“The government has sufficiently shared the view on
the urgency and importance of humanitarian issues, including the
reunions of separated families,” said
Then hours later, the north’s negotiation team stormed out of the meeting room, leaving the concerns of many here unaddressed.
“The question is, how long will
— under pressure from what seems to be an increasingly angry public —
be willing to receive these body blows to its national sovereignty and
security without some kind of retaliatory response?” Keylor said.
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(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.
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