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Koreas to remove border propaganda signs
SEOUL - North and South Korea will remove propaganda signs dotting hills where their armies have faced off for decades, military officers said on Wednesday after rare talks aimed at building trust across one of worldâs most fortified borders.Military officers met at the Panmunjum truce village within the Demilitarised Zone and reached the agreement during talks to ease tensions between the armies that are still technically at war. The discussions were expected to only focus on setting the stage for a meeting of military generals from the two sides, but instead resulted in pushing forward the deal to remove the signs that was first agreed to last year but suspended due to strained ties, South Koreaâs Defence Ministry said. The two sides also agreed to establish liaison offices for contact between their navies to avert armed conflict, ministry officials said. âThe importance of opening up the liaison offices is we can notify each other about illegal fishing boats and their exact locations,â said Army Colonel Moon Sung-muk, South Koreaâs top delegate to the talks. The generals will meet as soon as possible near North Koreaâs Mount Paektu and the two sides will hold another round of military talks on Aug. 12 on the North Korean side of the Panmunjum truce village within the DMZ, the ministry said. The talks reopened a channel of dialogue between the two militaries and come days before six-party talks in Beijing on ending North Koreaâs nuclear arms programme. Two rounds of talks by military generals last year resulted in an agreement to cease propaganda broadcasts along the Cold Warâs last frontier, tear down all propaganda signs and establish radio hotlines between the navies of the two Koreas. The first major step in implementing that deal was taken on June 15, 2004 when North and South Korea stopped blaring high-decibel propaganda at each other across the DMZ to mark the fourth anniversary of a landmark summit between their leaders. Soldiers on the Southern side said they appreciated the change because it was now easier to sleep at night. Both sides also dismantled propaganda signs along some parts of the border. Posted by: Steve White 2005-07-21 |
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