Top Korean military brass meet for train talks

Seoul, May 8: North and South Korean generals today began rare talks that could make or break a historic and highly symbolic first run of trains across their heavily armed border in more than half a century.

During three days of talks just north of the border, South Korea will try to convince North Korean generals, fearful of any increased connections between the isolated state and the outside world, that a scheduled run on May 17 does not compromise Pyongyang's safety.

South Korea has long sought the rail crossings, which it considers a major step forward in the generally warming ties between the two Koreas that technically remain at war under a truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War.

It has built tracks from its side into the North on the east and west of the peninsula as well as elaborate but now cavernous and idle stations near the border in anticipation of rail travel between the two.

Tracks run from the South and into the North with compatible gauges, but the North's trains operate on an archaic system mostly built during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule that needs a complete overhaul in order to work with the South's modern and automated system, experts said.

South Korea has promised the North aid worth tens of millions of dollars to its industries if it allows test runs at the two crossings -- one about 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Seoul.

Last year, North Korea's military vetoed a test run at the last minute due to security concerns.

North Korea is also interested in seeing the trains start running again, the South's Unification Minister said last week.

This week's high-level military talks are only the fifth round between generals since the war, but each time the two sides have managed to agree on measures that cut military tensions on the peninsula.

Past meetings have led to the end of signs and loudspeakers blaring propaganda on both sides of the border as well as military hotlines to prevent naval clashes in disputed waters where skirmishes killed scores of sailors on both sides.

But the last round of the generals' meeting in May last year broke down when the North insisted on talks to redraw the disputed maritime border.

Reuters
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