Rival Koreas begin rare high-level talks in Kaesong industrial complex
But as the two Koreas failed to conclude the talks, they agreed to resume them at 10:00 a.m. (Pyongyang time) on Saturday, according to government officials.
Dictator Kim Jong Un on Thursday suggested the North is prepared to detonate a hydrogen bomb – hundreds of times more powerful than an atomic bomb – though the White House and South Korean officials have reportedly expressed skepticism the country has developed a thermonuclear weapon. “Additional talks will be held on Saturday”.
Under the agreements, the two sides held a 20th round of reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War from October 20-26 at the Mount Kumgang resort. This likely ruled out discussions on more important issues. “Despite the winter’s cold weather, let’s make utmost efforts to bring the spring sun to North-South relations”.
Tensions between the two Koreas escalated in August when a landmine explosion rocked the border region injuring two South Korean soldiers.
No major breakthrough was reached in the meeting of vice-ministerial officials in Kaesong, and the two sides made a decision to extend the talks for another day. Hwang Boogi, center, South Korea’s vice minister of unification and the head negotiator for high-level talks with North Korea, speaks to the media before leaving for Kaesong, at the office of inter-Korean Dialogue in Seo… It was the first such reunion in over a year. His counterpart was Jon Jong-Su, a vice director of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. These tours were halted in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier.
Pyongyang has repeatedly pressed Seoul to reopen the tour program in an apparent move to earn hard currency.
The vice-minister level talks, held on the North Korean side of the border in the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone, will resume tomorrow morning, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said.
The United States, which hosted the gathering, also reiterated its demand for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon plans.
North and South Korea remain in a technical state of war following the conflict, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Responding to this week’s claim by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that the reclusive state is ready to unleash a hydrogen bomb, a State Department spokesperson called on the already heavily sanctioned Pyongyang to “comply with its global commitments and obligations”. The two Koreas went on to threaten an all-out war and exchanged brief fire.