The ruling Democratic Get together of Korea (DPK) on Thursday urged North Korea to simply accept South Korea’s proposal for army talks aimed toward clarifying the Army Demarcation Line (MDL) to forestall doable clashes close to the inter-Korean border.
The proposal got here as North Korean troopers — together with those that had been armed — have repeatedly, albeit quickly, crossed the MDL whereas working close to the border, comparable to clearing land or laying mines within the buffer zone.
“North Korea ought to instantly reply to our calls,” Rep. Kim Byung-kee, the DPK’s ground chief, mentioned throughout a coverage coordination assembly on the Nationwide Meeting. “As South Korea’s first official proposal for talks with the North since President Lee Jae Myung took workplace, it would mark an necessary alternative to renew inter-Korean dialogue.”
He pressured that the proposed assembly is meant to forestall unintentional clashes alongside the MDL and ease army tensions.
“North Korea strongly criticized the end result of the South Korea-U.S. summit via its state-run Korean Central Information Company not too long ago, however I can’t reply to every of its claims,” he mentioned. “If the North has one thing to say, it may totally achieve this when inter-Korean talks are held.”
Since April final yr, Pyongyang has deployed troops close to the MDL inside the Demilitarized Zone to plant mines, erect anti-tank limitations and reinforce barbed wire fences after the nation’s chief Kim Jong-un described inter-Korean ties as these between “two states hostile to one another” in late 2023.
North Korean troops are recognized to have intruded over the border about 10 instances this yr alone, together with in October when two North Korean troopers briefly crossed the border in an try and chase one other North Korean soldier defecting to the South.
In response, the South Korean army has broadcast a warning message when North Korean troops moved near the MDL and subsequently fired warning pictures once they violated the boundary.
If held, it would mark the primary inter-Korean army talks for the reason that two Koreas held general-level army talks in 2018. They’ve held two ministerial-level talks and 40 working-level talks since 2000.
