Inter-Korean Ministerial Talks BeginThe fifth inter-Korean ministerial meeting opened Sunday morning in Seoul, with two sides exchanging ideas on the issues on the meeting agenda."We exchanged our opinions on the issues on the agenda, and that's all we did this morning," said Unification Minister Hong Soon-young, the head of the South Korean delegation to the four- day meeting held at the Olympia Hotel in Seoul. "The two parties presented their stances and proposals this morning. We are going to work out an agreement on the agenda in subsequent meetings," said Kim Ryong Song, senior DPRK cabinet councilor who is leading Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)delegation. DPRK leader Kim Jong Il's visit to South Korea was not discussed at the meeting. "We're not here to discuss it," said Kim Ryong Song, who arrived here Saturday afternoon at the head of a 27-member DPRK delegation. At the meeting Sunday morning, the South Korean delegation proposed plans to settle issues agreed in the first inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and DPRK leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last year, said a spokesman of the South Korean delegation. It also suggested the inter-ministerial meeting on a regular basis, measures to ease the pains of separated families. The South Korean delegation also urged the DPRK to implement the agreements on relinking inter-Korean railway and high-way, setting the site of an industrial complex to be constructed for South Korean businesses in Kaesong city of the DPRK, and building a overland tourist road from South Korea to DPRK's Mount Kumgang, said the spokesman. When asked about possible adoption of a joint anti-terrorist declaration denouncing last week's terrorist attacks in the United States, the spokesman said "We hope there will be progress (on the issue) as delegates from the two parties discuss it." |
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