North Korea premier in Seoul for talks
SEOUL, South Korea - The prime ministers of North and South Korea met for the first time in 15 years today, hoping to extend a detente across the Cold War’s last frontier after the second-ever summit of their leaders last month.
In October, the North and South’s leaders agreed to pursue a permanent peace treaty to replace the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War at a summit where they also discussed increasing economic cooperation.
Upon his arrival in Seoul, North Korean Prime Minister Kim Yong Il said he thought the three days of talks - aimed at fleshing out the October agreement - would “go well in a warm atmosphere” based on his enthusiastic welcome.
The two sides last held prime ministerial talks in 1992 that were suspended amid the first crisis over the North’s nuclear-weapons program.
Kim ranks below the top members of the North’s ruling elite, leader Kim Jong Il and the country’s No. 2 Kim Yong Nam. He is meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun’s deputy.
The talks come amid progress in international efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear programs, with the communist nation beginning to disable its sole operational nuclear reactor recently under a deal with the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
Seoul thinks promoting reconciliation with Pyongyang would facilitate resolution of the nuclear dispute.
This week’s talks will focus on the accord that Roh and the North Korean leader signed in October. Praising that agreement as a big step toward reconciliation, the North Korean delegation stressed today the importance of implementing it.
The negotiations will focus mainly on economic cooperation projects, including setting up a joint fishing area around their disputed western sea border and establishing a joint economic area on the North’s southwestern coast.
Also on the agenda are building joint shipyards in the North and improving convenience for South Koreans working in a joint industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. Other topics include expanding reunions of separated families.
Security issues are not expected to be on the table as the two sides will hold defense ministers’ talks in Pyongyang later this month.