After more than 40 hours of talks, North and South Korea yesterday pulled back from the brink with an accord that allows both sides to save face and, for the moment, avert the bloodshed they have been threatening each other with for weeks.
In a carefully crafted, though vague, statement, North Korea expressed “regret” that two South Korean soldiers were maimed in recent land mine blasts that Seoul blamed on the North.
While not an acknowledgement of responsibility, let alone the “definite apology” South Korea’s president had demanded, it allows Seoul to claim some measure of victory in holding the North to account.
Photo: EPA / South Korean Unification Ministry / Yonhap
South Korea, for its part, halted anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers on the border, which will let the North trumpet to its people a propaganda win over its rival, and silence the broadcasts that outside analysts say could demoralize front-line troops and inspire them to defect.
The agreement represents a good first step in easing animosity that has built since the South blamed the North for the mine explosion at the border earlier this month and began the propaganda broadcasts in retaliation.
However, as always on the Korean Peninsula, it is unclear how long the good mood will continue.
Despite South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s expression of hope that the North’s “regret” will help improve the relationship, the accord does little to address many fundamental, long-standing differences.
The announcement of further talks to be held soon in either Seoul or Pyongyang could be a beginning, but the Koreas have a history of failing to follow through on their promises and allowing simmering animosity to interrupt diplomacy.
Appearing on the North’s official Korean Central TV yesterday afternoon, Hwang Pyong-so, who was one of the North’s negotiators, indicated that, despite the expression of regret, Pyongyang had no intention of taking responsibility for the land mine explosions.
Hwang, the top political officer in the Korean People’s Army, said the South learned a “serious lesson” that it should not provoke the North by “creating a groundless incident” that raised tension and increased the possibility of a military clash.
However, Hwang ended his short TV appearance on a positive note, expressing hope that the accord would provide an opportunity for improved ties.
Pyongyang’s decision to send Hwang to the talks was considered a signal of its seriousness since he is considered by outside analysts to be North Korea’s second-most important official after supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang also agreed to lift a “quasi-state of war” it declared last week, according to South Korea’s presidential office and North Korea’s state media.
In addition, the two Koreas also struck an important humanitarian agreement by promising to begin talks next month to plan for more of the highly emotional reunions of families separated by the Korean War, which could come in October.
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