The high-level talks showed signs of differences between the two sides over major issues from the very beginning as they failed to reach any agreement during the first day of the talks that lasted from early morning through late night. His counterpart was Jon Jong-Su, a vice director of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
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“The South and North had comprehensive discussions on pending issues and thoughtfully exchanged their views”, Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee said after Friday’s talks, without elaborating on the issues that were discussed.
They met again for 40 minutes on Saturday morning, before adjourning to consult with their respective capitals.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan continues to request reports from Pyongyang, and Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s recently appointed representative on the North Korea abductions issue, said Tokyo is at this point not considering new sanctions against Pyongyang.
As they shook hands on Friday, Hwang said it was time to “take a crucial step”, while Jon underlined the opportunity to move towards a less confrontational relationship.
The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, because the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
“The work of his grandfather Kim Il-sung had turned North Korea into a ‘powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation, ‘ he is quoted as saying”.
Although there had been no set agenda for the Kaesong discussions, they were understood to have focused on reviving two cross-border programs.
Pyongyang pushed for the resumption of cross-border tours of the Mount Kumgang resort, just north of the demilitarized frontier, which were suspended in 2008 following the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist, according to Hwang.
An all-female North Korean pop band formed by leader Kim Jong Un abruptly canceled a Beijing concert on Saturday and headed back home to Pyongyang, Chinese media and the concert venue said.
Although Kim Jong Un may have hoped that the Moranbong Band would help defuse tensions, it’s hard to imagine that a hit single like”Our Dear Leader!”.
South Korean officials want to discuss more reunions between ageing family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
South Korea has called for more participants and more regular reunions, as thousands of people who had been on the waiting list have already died and many others have entered their 80s and 90s, but the North has refused to oblige.
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They also come amid diplomatic shifts in northeast Asia that have left North Korea looking more isolated than ever, with Seoul moving closer to Pyongyang’s main diplomatic and economic ally China, and improving previously strained relations with Tokyo.
