North and South Korea yesterday resumed top-level talks aimed at avoiding a threatened military clash, even as Seoul accused Pyongyang of undermining the process with provocative naval and land deployments.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense said the North had doubled its artillery units at the border and deployed two-thirds of its total submarine fleet — or about 50 vessels — outside their bases.
“The North is adopting a two-faced stance with the talks going on,” said a ministry spokesman, who described the scale of the submarine movement as “unprecedented.”
Photo: Reuters
“We take the situation very seriously,” he added.
The discussions at the border truce village of Panmunjom resumed in the afternoon after a marathon negotiating session the night before.
Analysts saw the decision to keep talking as a positive sign, with the presidential Blue House in Seoul saying the two sides would “continue to narrow down differences.”
However, the gaps to be bridged are daunting, with both militaries on maximum alert and flexing their weaponry across a border that has already seen one exchange of artillery fire.
While the North moves around subs and artillery units, South Korean and US fighter jets have been carrying out simulated bombing sorties not far from the border.
Pyongyang is threatening a concerted military attack unless Seoul switches off banks of loudspeakers that have been blasting high-decibel propaganda messages into North Korea for the past week.
Seoul says Pyongyang must first apologize for landmine explosions that maimed two members of a border patrol earlier this month. It activated the loudspeakers in retaliation.
The North denies any role in those blasts and is extremely unlikely to apologize, while the South will not accept a compromise that might be seen to reward Pyongyang’s belligerence.
“The two sides may be able to come up with a statement in which some sort of ‘regret’ is expressed without explicitly naming the North,” said Jeung Young-tae, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
“But I don’t think such a vague statement will work this time,” Jeung said, stressing that the case of the maimed soldiers — both of whom lost legs — had become an emotional issue in the South.
“So I think the best outcome of this meeting will be an agreement for another high-level meeting in the future, such as defense ministerial talks,” he added.
That would leave open the issue of the propaganda broadcasts, which Seoul has vowed to continue in the face of an ultimatum from Pyongyang to desist or face military action.
Despite Pyongyang’s past record of making dramatic, but largely unrealized threats, the ultimatum sent tensions soaring to their highest level for years.
The negotiations in Panmunjom, where the 1950-1953 Korean War ceasefire was signed, are being led by South Korean National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin and his North Korean counterpart, Hwang Pyong-so — a close confidant of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
They are the highest-level inter-Korean talks to take place for nearly a year — a reflection of the seriousness of the situation.
“The two sides had wide-ranging discussions on ways to settle the recently developed situation and to improve inter-Korean relations down the road,” South Korean presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said after the night-long first session.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the decision to stay at the negotiating table, urging both sides to “redouble” their efforts.
South Korea said the initial request for talks had come from the North, despite its aggressive rhetoric and military posturing of recent days.
On the orders of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean People’s Army has been in a “fully armed, wartime state” since Friday.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source