US restarts military exercise with South Korea, after pause

South Korea’s Director of National Security Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo joined the talks, as well as Hwang Pyong-so, the director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean Army, and Kim Yang-gon, the top official in charge of inter-Korean relations for Pyongyang.

Seoul has since resumed its cross-border propaganda broadcasts, which North Korea called “an open act of war” and spurred it to threaten to blow up the speakers.

“We suspended part of the exercise temporarily in order to allow our side to coordinate with the ROK (Republic of Korea) side on the subject of the exchange fire across the DMZ”, Shear said.

Experts I’ve talked to say it’s certainly good news the Koreas are talking but add that just one meeting may not be enough to narrow their differences.

South Korea’s stock-rich tycoons were hit by a loss in their assets as the country’s stock market fell to a two-year low last week amid continued jitters from China’s currency devaluation, data showed Sunday. The North resumed its anti-South broadcasts.

Before the talks were announced, North Korean United Nations Ambassador An Myong Hun told reporters: “If South Korea does not respond to our ultimatum… our military counteraction will be inevitable and that counteraction will be very strong”.

North Korea denied responsibility and refused demands for an apology.

Authoritarian North Korea, which has also restarted its own propaganda broadcasts, is extremely sensitive to any criticism of its government.

Despite such highly charged rhetoric, which is not particularly unusual, activity in the capital remained calm, with people going about their daily routines.

Truckloads of soldiers singing martial songs can occasionally be seen driving around the city, and a single minivan with camouflage netting was parked near the main train station for a time as the talks with South Korea began Saturday and are set to resume later Sunday. It went to a war footing at 5 p.m. Pyongyang time (3.30 a.m ET) that day. They also used phrases like “puppet gangsters” to refer to South Korean authorities – everyday terms in the North, in both state media and conversation.

An official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry, who didn’t want to be named because of office rules, says Saturday’s talks are being held at the border village of Panmunjom.