Asia-Pacific

Talks between UN Command, DPRK postponed

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-13 09:49

SEOUL - Talks between the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) in South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), originally slated for Tuesday, were postponed at the request of the DPRK, the UNC said.

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DPRK military authorities requested a delay in the scheduled colonel-level meeting citing "administrative reasons," and a new meeting time was not immediately proposed, the UNC said in a statement.

The two sides had planned to hold a working-level meeting involving field-grade officials at 10 am local time at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone to discuss the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang's torpedo attack.

The DPRK accepted last Friday the command's proposal to hold military talks after South Korean authorities turned down Pyongyang's request to hold an inter-Korean discussion involving high-level military officials.

The UNC and the DPRK have held 16 general-level talks since 1998, and the latest round was held in March 2009.