NORTH Korea has rejected a South Korean call for military talks
this week on reconnecting a cross-border railway, South Korean
defence officials said on Monday.
The North instead said the issue could be discussed at fresh
economic talks with the South set to open next month.
Both Koreas agreed in 2000 to relink a railway and build a new
road across the frontier which was sealed during the 1950-53 Korean
War.
But North Korea has barely started work on its side of the
frontier while South Korea has almost finished.
South Korean presidential envoy Lim Dong-Won said after visiting
Pyongyang earlier this month that the North had confirmed its
pledge to rebuild the Seoul-Pyongyang railway which is called the
Gyeogui Line.
”We proposed working-level military talks should be held on
April 23 to discuss the relinking of the Gyeongui line. But the
offer was not accepted,” said defence ministry representative Hwang
Eui-Don.
Pyongyang said the project could be discussed at an inter-Korean
economic cooperation committee meeting on May 7, Hwang said.
Military safety measures are needed for the two Koreas to remove
landmines from the four-kilometre demilitarised zone
(DMZ), the unofficial frontier, for the railway.
Yonhap news agency said meanwhile that North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Il had asked for South Korean help to demine the northern side
of the DMZ.
The South has cleared mines on the railway up to the DMZ, but
the buffer zone still has to be cleared as well as the North’s
side. – Sapa-AFP