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North, South Korea to discuss security for historic rail tests

North and South Korea have agreed to hold military talks next week to discuss historic rail tests across the heavily armed border dividing the peninsula, the South's Defense Ministry said yesterday.

The South had proposed the session to ensure that the North's military would agree to security arrangements for the rail test. The North responded earlier this week that it wanted to upgrade the rank of officers involved to generals, and the South agreed, the ministry said.

The talks -- scheduled to run for three days starting Tuesday in the truce village of Panmunjom in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone -- would be the first such session in nearly a year between officers of the two Koreas.

Trains have not crossed the border in more than 50 years, and the South has yet to win approval from the North Korean military for security arrangements for the rail tests slated for May 17. Last year, the North called off planned rail tests at the last minute, saying its military did not agree to them.

"We confirmed that the North Korean military also recognizes the significance and importance of the train test-runs," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said yesterday, without elaborating. "With the talks, I expect that the train test-runs can be conducted smoothly as planned, and furthermore that there can be an advance in reducing military tensions."

The North's military has previously refused to agree to the rail tests citing the South's rebuff of its long-running demand that their western sea border be redrawn.

North Korea doesn't recognize the current sea border, demarcated by the UN at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, and has long claimed that it should be further south.

Lee said next week's military talks will focus on rail tests, adding the border dispute should be discussed at a higher-level of talks between defense ministers of the two countries.

The waters around the border are rich fishing grounds and boats from the two Koreas routinely jostle for position during the May-June crab-catching season. In 1999 and 2002, their navies fought deadly skirmishes, killing several sailors and sinking six ships.
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