Mixed results at Tuesday talks

Although there is another formal session planned tomorrow morning in the inter-Korean talks at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, the substantive negotiations are essentially over, with a mixed bag of results. The major concrete result, delegates said, is the setting of dates for the next round of separated family reunions.

The negotiators agreed to hold the next round of reunions on about Sept. 14, before the two Koreas celebrate the Chuseok, or thanksgiving holiday. In the South, that is a three-day affair, the most important holiday here. The reunions will run for six days, probably as two three-day events.

The two Koreas also agreed to hold Red Cross talks for three days starting Sept. 5 in order to designate a permanent meeting spot where North and South Koreans can meet throughout the year.

The two chief delegates seemed to differ in their assessment of the talks as they emerged from Tuesday's session. "Everything is going well," said North Korean chief delegate Kim Ryong-sung with smile, but Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyeon emerged with a stern expression and did not answer any reporters' questions.

"Today's talks were carried out in amicable atmosphere and the two sides negotiated to come to agreements, rather than contending," Rhee Bong-jo, the South Korean delegation's spokesman, said.

There were other agreements to meet again; there will be a three-day economic cooperation committee meeting beginning on Aug. 26. On that agenda are the South's provision of rice to the famine-stricken North, the construction of an industrial complex in the southern North Korean city of Gaesong, and flood prevention measures along cross-border rivers.

Those economic talks will probably result in the dispatch of 300,000 tons of government-owned rice to the North by the end of September. The North Koreans are reportedly demanding larger supplies and a better quality of rice.

But the two sides ran into problems in trying to fix a date for military talks that the South wants to use to agree on confidence-building measures and on procedures for reopening rail links across the Demilitarized Zone. Seoul proposed to begin those meetings on Friday, specifically to discuss the cross-border railroad. The North balked, saying the matter should be discussed at the economic talks.

The two Koreas' defense ministers met for the first time in September 2000, but the military talks have been frozen since then, and the North's reluctance to resume them suggests tough times ahead for the rail links, a Seoul priority.

The North also agreed to send an economic survey team to Seoul in October; the ministers also endorsed private exchanges that led to agreements on an inter-Korean soccer match and Pyeongyang's participation in the upcoming Asian Games in Busan.

Working-level delegates are said to be planning to work through the night to prepare the final meeting minutes.

The North Korean delegates had planned to call on President Kim at the Blue House, but the meeting was canceled because of the president's current bout with pneumonia. The North's delegation will return to Pyeongyang Wednesday after the final morning session of the talks.

by Lee Yong-jong