By Shannon Tiezzi
North and South Korea are trying to dial down tensions through high-level negotiations.
It’s been a rough August so far for inter-Korea relations. On August 4, two Republic of Korea soldiers were maimed in a landmine explosion at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. The ROK determined that North Korea had planted the minesand, in retaliation, Seoul resumed its propaganda broadcasts near the border. On August 20, North Korea fired a shell across the DMZ, apparently aiming at the loudspeakers broadcasting South Korea’s anti-North propaganda. The South responded in kind. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has since famously declared that his country’s armed forces along the militarized zone must “enter a wartime state to be fully battle ready.”
As The Diplomat’s Steven Denney noted, the latest round of brinkmanship is part of an old game – particularly given the timing. North Korea ups its provocations and rhetoric each year to protest the annual joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. Still, the exchange of fire and a ramped-up North Korean military presence near the border has observers concerned.
On Saturday, however, the two governments took a solid step toward defusing tensions by holding their first high-level talks since February 2014. South Korean National Security Advisor Kim Kwan-jin and Hwang Pyong-so, a top military aide to Kim Jong-un, met in Panmunjom, a border village that is frequently the site of inter-Korean negotiations. The two sides held marathon talks from Saturday evening into Sunday morning. While no concrete steps were announced after the first round of talks, a North Korean ultimatum for Seoul to stop its propaganda broadcasts passed without incident.
The talks restarted again late Sunday afternoon, after a 13 hour pause to allow both sides to consult with their respective governments.
Read the full story at The Diplomat