No major breakthrough was expected at the meeting of vice-ministerial officials in Kaesong, but analysts see even these relatively low-level talks as meaningful because they seek to carry out previously agreed reconciliation efforts -something the rivals have often failed to do in the past.
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The band’s abrupt departures might have been related to stories circulated by the South Korean media about a rumored past relationship between the married Kim and a female member of the band, which also made rounds on Chinese social media, said Yang Moo-jin, a North Korea expert at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Pyongyang has wanted the resumption of tour to the DPRK’s scenic resort of Mount Kumgang. The countries have been additionally unable to fix a date for an extra meeting, South Korean officers stated. North Korean diplomats did not attend the session, at which U.N. officials as well as the United States and its allies accused Pyongyang of widespread abuses. North Korea, meanwhile, said the South should be more cautious when talking about the North’s nuclear and human rights issues, Hwang said. South Korea has referred to as for more participants and much more usual reunions, as hundreds of people in that had been on the waiting list have already died and lots of others have entered their 80s & 90s, still the North has refused to oblige. It also raised questions about the state of relations between China and North Korea, which have been rocky at times since Kim took power in late 2011.
On the same day, North Korea forwarded an ultimatum to South Korea to stop broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda through loudspeakers, to dismantle the equipment within next 48 hours and threatened military action otherwise.
The vice-minister-level negotiations were held Friday on the North Korean side of the border in the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone, which opened in 2004 and has survived as a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. This possibly ruled out discussions on more important issues.
The stand-off eased after marathon talks and an agreement on efforts to reduce animosity.
North Korean attempts to deploy “Spice Girl diplomacy” to fix strained relations with China ended in apparent failure last night after an all-girl band formed by leader Kim Jong-un cancelled a highly-anticipated show in Beijing and headed home.
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The rivals, technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, had all but cut ties since early 2010, when a South Korean navy ship was sunk by a torpedo that Seoul said was sacked from a North Korean submarine.
