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Two Koreas agree to Cabinet-level talks

South Korean marines have fun in the snow during their annual winter military exercise against a possible attack from North Korea in Pyeongchang, some 200km east of Seoul, on Wednesday. Delegates for the two Koreas agreed yesterday to the resumption of Cabinet-level talks after an interruption of almost seven months. PHOTO: EPA

The two Koreas agreed to resume stalled high-level talks later this month, officials said yesterday, in the first concrete sign of easing tensions on the divided peninsula after the North signed a breakthrough disarmament agreement.

The Cabinet-level talks -- the highest dialogue channel between the two Koreas -- will be held from Feb. 27 through March 2 in Pyongyang, according to a joint statement adopted at a lower-level meeting in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

The two Koreas have held 19 high-level meetings since 2000, but they have been suspended for seven months amid chilled relations following the North's missile launches last July and nuclear test in October.

The two sides ``affirmed each other's will to continue developing South-North relations,'' the statement said.

Cabinet-level talks -- which usually serve as a forum for discussion on Seoul's aid to the North -- could lead to a resumption of the regular delivery of rice and fertilizer. South Korea suspended its aid after the July missile tests.

South Korean delegate Lee Kwan-se said the planned talks will help ``advance reconciliation and cooperation between the South and the North, and to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.''

``The North side, just as we did, wanted to restore South-North relations and resume dialogue to discuss pending issues,'' Lee said, according to pool reports by South Korean journalists.

The agreement to restart the inter-Korean talks comes after the nuclear pact, reached Tuesday among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and US President George W. Bush agreed during a telephone conversation that ``they were now at a starting point to kick-start the process of resolving the North Korea nuclear issue,'' Roh's office said in a statement yesterday.

The two leaders also ``stressed that each country should sincerely implement'' the nuclear deal, according to the statement.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Song Min-soon had similar telephone discussions with his US and Chinese counterparts, and planned to talk with the Japanese and Russian foreign ministers, the Foreign Ministry said.

Both Roh and Song are on a European tour.

In Washington, Bush said Wednesday that the disarmament pact was ``a good first step.''

``There's a lot of work to be done to make sure that the commitments made in this agreement become reality,'' he told a news conference. ``But I believe it's an important step in the right direction.''

Yesterday, China also urged all the parties to honor the agreement.

``The six-party talks have made an important step forward and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has entered a substantive stage,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said. ``We hope all parties can honor their commitments and implement the initial actions.''

Meanwhile, Pyongyang's No. 2 leader yesterday ordered all soldiers and people to maintain a war mobilization posture to counter the threat of a US attack.

``We will mercilessly repel the aggressors and achieve reunification by mobilizing'' in case of a US attack, Kim Yong-nam warned in a speech to thousands of government and military officials that was carried on state TV.

The speech was monitored in South Korea.

The anti-US rhetoric appears directed at North Koreans as they prepare to celebrate the 65th birthday of leader Kim Jong-il today.

North Korea regularly accuses the US of planning to attack it. US officials deny such intentions.

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