3RD LD N. Korea, U.N. Command

By: opendoor Mood: Date: 07/26/2010 08:42:05 Music: None

SEOUL/BEIJING, July 16 Kyodo

(EDS: CHANGING DATELINE, UPDATING WITH N. KOREA REPORT)

North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command agreed Thursday to hold a second round of colonel-level talks around Tuesday to advance discussions on the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship last March, the North's state media said.

The U.N. Command said after a one-day colonel-level meeting between the North Korean People's Army and the UNC's Military Armistice Commission, or UNCMAC, that the two sides agreed to work toward holding general-level talks on the incident, which has been blamed on Pyongyang.

''Both sides agreed to confirm the details of the proposed follow-on talks after consulting with their respective superiors,'' according to a statement issued at the end of the first round of talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom.

The North's Korean Central News Agency said the two sides agreed to hold a second round of colonel-level talks ''in Panmunjeom around July 20'' to pave the way for general-level talks.

Thursday's meeting, which lasted for about one and a half hours, was the first between the two sides since the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan, which left 46 sailors dead.

The North Korean army repeated Pyongyang's position that a field investigation by a team of the National Defense Commission, or NDC, ''should take place first under any circumstances in order to probe the truth behind the case,'' KCNA said.

North Korea ''will closely follow how the U.S. forces side will handle the issue of the NDC inspection group's field investigation,'' KCNA quoted the North's army side as saying.

''It is elementary practice for the parties concerned to conduct investigation before handling a case at the talks,'' it said.

At the talks, the U.N. Command side was led by U.S. Army Col. Kurt Taylor of the UNCMAC secretariat, while the North Korean side was led by Col. Pak Ki Yong, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

The meeting stemmed from a UNC proposal on June 26 to hold the consultations in advance of general officer talks to discuss whether the sinking of the Cheonan violated the Korean Armistice Agreement that effectively ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

UNCMAC is responsible for supervising the implementation of the truce and for providing a mechanism to negotiate alleged violations.

In May, a Seoul-led panel of investigators from five countries concluded that a North Korean torpedo caused the sinking of the Cheonan near the disputed maritime border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea.

North Korea, however, has insisted it had nothing to do with the incident.

South Korea then referred the case to the U.N. Security Council, which last Friday issued a presidential statement condemning the attack as ''an incident that endangers peace and security in the region and beyond.''

While stopping short of directly blaming North Korea, it mentioned the results of the international investigation of the attack that found the North responsible. It also warned against any further attacks and insisted on full adherence to the Korean Armistice Agreement.

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