North Koreans in talks with US-led Command

Seoul: Military officers from North Korea and the American-led UN Command met Thursday for talks on the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that has been blamed on Pyongyang.

The sides were meeting at the Korean border village of Panmunjom as scheduled, UN Command spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said.

It was the first such meeting since the March 26 sinking dramatically raised tension on the Korean peninsula. The talks originally were set for Tuesday, but the North cancelled just before they were to start, requesting a delay for unspecified "administrative reasons."

It later proposed they be held yesterday and the UN Command accepted.

An international investigation in May concluded a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-tonen Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border, killing 46 South Korean sailors.

Pyongyang flatly denies it was responsible and has warned any punishment would trigger war. It wasn't clear how yesterday's talks would proceed.

Fabricated results

But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported yesterday the North is expected to reiterate its contention that South Korea and the US have fabricated the investigation results, while the UN Command will likely argue that the Cheonan was attacked by a North Korean torpedo and that it was a violation of the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.

The report didn't cite any source. The UN Command, which oversees the truce, separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce, though the findings have not been disclosed.

Late last month, the command proposed military talks with North Korea to review its findings and initiate dialogue.

The North first rejected the offer, criticising the US for allegedly trying to meddle in inter-Korean affairs under the name of the UN.

But it reversed its position last week and proposed working-level talks at Panmunjom to prepare for higher-level talks by general officers on the sinking of the South Korean ship.

North Korea and the UN Command launched general-level talks in 1998 as a measure to lessen tension between the sides.

If a new round is realised, they would be the 17th of their kind, according to the UN command.