Success, sort of, in meeting

North Korea agreed with the U.S.-led United Nations Command on Tuesday to make efforts to prevent recurrences of armed border clashes between the two Koreas' navies, an unusual accord reached at a general officers' meeting in Panmunjeom.

The North did not respond to demands for an apology and punishment of northern military officials responsible for the June 29 Yellow Sea gunfire exchange. It hinted at an escalation of tension because of the ongoing work to salvage a sunken South Korean Navy patrol boat and stuck to its insistence that the UN-imposed sea demarcation line in the Yellow Sea is invalid. Still, the UN officials appeared more than satisfied with the outcome. Rancor had been the usual result of previous meetings, and Major General James Soligan hailed the better mood.

"We had a very positive meeting today -- a tone of cooperation and common interest in reducing tensions and preventing miscalculations," Mr. Soligan said in a statement after the meeting. He is the deputy chief of staff of the United Nations Command and led the UN delegation at the meeting. "These talks today proved that positive progress can be made through open dialogue."

The two sides discussed "preventive measures such as establishing new communication procedures and conducting regular staff officer meetings to reduce tensions and prevent clashes," the statement said. "The North Koreans also proposed some initiatives for our consideration," it said without elaboration.

Tuesday's meeting was the 13th since the general-officer channel was opened in 1998; the only prior agreement to come from such meetings was at the 12th, on railroad and road construction through the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas.

At the nearly two-hour meeting, a South Korean general complained about Pyeongyang's handling of the June 29 incident and demanded an apology and punishment for those who initiated it. "Such demands were made through a keynote address by South Korean Brigadier General Lee Jeong-seok," Hwang Eui-don, South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman, told reporters.

The North's chief delegate, Lieutenant General Ri Chan-bok, replied in his address, "We should prevent armed clashes from recurring in the West Sea [Yellow Sea] and come up with measures to ease tensions to be escalated by the salvage operation," according to Mr. Hwang.

by Lee Chul-hee