Rival Koreas hold first talks in two years

Google – AFP, Jung Ha-Won (AFP), 9 June 2013 

North Korean chief delegate Kim Song-Hye (L) shakes hands with South

 Korean counterpart Chun Hae-Sung on June 9, 2013 (South Korean Unification

Ministry/AFP, South Korean Unification Ministry)

SEOUL — North and South Korea held their first official talks for more than two years, confronting decades of mutual distrust in a search for some positive end to months of soaring military tensions.

The working-level discussions, which lasted less than two hours over a morning and afternoon session in the border truce village of Panmunjom, were to set up ministerial-level talks tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in Seoul.

The agenda there will focus on restoring suspended commercial links, including the Kaesong joint industrial complex that the North effectively shut down in April as tensions between the historic rivals peaked.

North Korean chief delegate Kim Song-Hye

(C) crosses the border line at the truce

village of Panmunjom on June 9, 2013

(South Korean Unification Ministry/AFP, 

South Korean Unification Ministry)

"The overall atmosphere was... calm and the discussion proceeded with no major debates," the South's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-Seok told reporters after the morning session.

The agenda, venue, date, duration of the ministerial meeting and the number of delegates were all discussed, Kim said.

The talks came about after an unexpected reversal on Thursday from North Korea, which suddenly dropped its default tone of high-decibel belligerence and proposed opening a dialogue.

South Korea responded swiftly with its offer of a ministerial meeting in Seoul, the North countered with a request for lower-level talks first and -- after some relatively benign to-and-fro about the best venue -- Sunday's meet in Panmunjom was agreed.

In a further signal of intent, North Korea on Friday restored its official hotline with the South, which it had severed in March.

The two Koreas last held working talks in February 2011, and they have not met at the ministerial level since 2007.

The move towards dialogue has been broadly welcomed -- given the threats of nuclear war that were being flung around in April and May -- but there is sizeable scepticism about Pyongyang's intentions.

Kim Jong-Un gets a rapturous reception

during a visit to a factory, in a photo

released by state media on June 8, 2013.

(KCNA/AFP/File, Kcna Via Kns)

"The North Korean offer has all of the hallmarks of Pyongyang's diplomacy," said Stephan Haggard, a North Korea expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"Pyongyang is 'sincerely' and 'magnanimously' inviting the South to fix, and pay for, problems of the North's own creation," Haggard said.

It was the North's decision to withdraw its 53,000 workers in early April that closed Kaesong.

The North also wants to discuss resuming tours by South Koreans to its Mount Kumgang resort. These were suspended after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist there in July 2008.

Kaesong and Mount Kumgang were both significant sources of scarce foreign currency for North Korea, which is squeezed by UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme.

There are also suggestions that Pyongyang was playing to a specific audience by proposing talks just before US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for their crucial summit in California.

"The offer was transparently timed to coincide with the Obama-Xi summit, suggesting -- probably wrongly -- that the North is willing to do something substantive to unfreeze relations on the peninsula," said Haggard.

Visitors look around a showroom of the

Kaesong joint industrial complex, on 

June 6, 2013 (AFP/File, Jung Yeon-Je)

China, the North's sole major ally and economic benefactor, has been under US pressure to restrain its neighbour and has pushed Pyongyang to drop its destabilising strategy of confrontation.

On Saturday, Obama and Xi closely consulted on North Korea's recent nuclear brinkmanship, and agreed to work together on the "denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula, US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said.

Analysts say South Korea will approach talks with Pyongyang with a caution born of long experience.

President Park Geun-Hye, who took office in February with a promise of greater engagement with Pyongyang, has welcomed the initiative.

But she remains adamant that any substantive dialogue can only take place if the North shows some tangible commitment to abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea has been equally emphatic in declaring its nuclear deterrent is not up for negotiation.

It was the North's nuclear test in February -- and subsequent UN sanctions -- that triggered the recent crisis that saw Pyongyang threaten both the South and the United States with pre-emptive nuclear strikes.

Related Articles:

North, South Korea agree to official talks

North Korea 'to allow Kaesong managers back'

China calls for denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
Pyongyang delegation's trip to China a 'big gesture'

A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

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