ROK, DPRK agree to hold high-level talks

China Daily | Updated: 2018-05-16 07:51

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have agreed to hold high-level talks on Wednesday at the border village of Panmunjom, the ROK Unification ministry said on Tuesday.

High-level officials from the two sides will meet at Peace House, an ROK building in Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone dividing the two neighbors, to discuss ways to enforce the Panmunjom Declaration, which includes pledges to finally end a seven-decade war this year, and pursue "complete denuclearization", according to the ministry's news release.

"Through these high-level talks, we will negotiate and implement measures to carry out the Panmunjom Declaration and build sustainable development for inter-Korean relations and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula," the ministry said.

Pyongyang has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23-25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the country's state media reported on Saturday, a month ahead of a planned summit in Singapore on June 12 between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

The Panmunjom Declaration was announced on April 27 after the third inter-Korean summit between ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un, agreeing to complete denuclearization and the alteration of the current armistice agreement to a peace treaty by the end of this year.

The two leaders had agreed to hold senior-level talks to discuss follow-up measures to enforce the declaration. The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in armistice.

Seoul proposed to hold the high-level dialogue on Monday, but Pyongyang made a counterproposal to hold such talks on Wednesday, which was agreed upon by Seoul on Tuesday.

The five-member DPRK delegation, led by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, will be composed of officials in charge of railway, sports and inter-Korean economic cooperation.

The ROK delegation will be headed by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, the two countries agreed to connect and modernize railways and roads in the east transport corridor and between Seoul and the DPRK's northwestern city of Sinuiju.

The two sides also agreed to encourage exchanges, cooperation, visits and contacts at all levels to raise the sense of national reconciliation and unity.

To resolve humanitarian issues, the two sides will hold a reunion of families separated across the border around the Aug 15 Liberation Day, when the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45.

Xinhua - Reuters