Skepticism abounds as rival Koreas meet for talks

Feb 8, 2011

SEOUL (Reuters) – Military officers from the rival Koreas met at their heavily armed border on Tuesday for their first talks since North Korea attacked a southern island in November, with analysts skeptical about the North's motives.

The talks clear one of the roadblocks to a possible resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear-weapons program, last held more than two years ago when the North walked out, announcing the process dead.

North Korean Colonel Ri Son-kwon patted his counterpart from the South, Col. Moon Sang-gyun, on the shoulder and they shook hands before they started negotiations at the Panmunjom truce village, video footage showed. They have met several times over the years.

"When they (North Korea) need something, which usually means money, they first drive tensions high, then switch to the charm offensive and start talks in order to get something," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul.

"If they do not get what they need, they turn the switch back to the confrontational mood."

The meeting is the first between the rivals since November, when the North bombarded the island of Yeonpyeong in disputed waters off the west coast killing four people.

South Korea also accused the North of torpedoing one of its navy ships, killing 46 sailors, in March. Pyongyang denied involvement and says the South provoked the shelling of Yeonpyeong by firing artillery rounds into its water during a military drill.

The defense ministry in Seoul gave no further details about Tuesday's meeting.

Under pressure from the United States and China, host of the six-party talks, the neighbors have toned down their combative rhetoric over the past month and agreed to talk.

The two Koreas are still technically at war, because an armistice not a treaty ended their 1950-53 civil conflict, and have been involved in dozens of deadly confrontations over the years, including cross-border commando raids, political assassinations, an airliner bombing and military clashes.

Beijing and Washington had set inter-Korean dialogue as a prerequisite to restart six-party talks. The North has said it wants to return to six-party negotiations, but Seoul and Washington have questioned its sincerity about denuclearizing -- pointing to its revelations last November about a uranium enrichment program as proof.

Pyongyang says the uranium program, which potentially opens a second route to make an atomic bomb after its plutonium program, is for peaceful energy-making purposes.

Seoul and Washington want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the program because it contravenes past resolutions, whereas Beijing favors dealing with the matter in the six-party talks which also involve Japan and Russia.

Washington and Seoul are expected to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council this month, but experts say Beijing, which is a permanent member of the Security Council, is unlikely to back any new resolution against the North.

The South's Wi Sung-lac is due to visit Beijing on Thursday to discuss the best approach to deal with the North.

Seoul also says its poor neighbor, squeezed by U.N. sanctions for nuclear and missile tests, only wants to restart six-party talks to get aid. The South says it will only resume economic help when the North totally dismantles its atomic program.

Tuesday's colonel-level talks are aimed at setting the time and agenda for higher-level dialogue, possibly between their defense ministers. Officials say it may take several rounds of working-level talks to prepare for the senior meeting.