South Korea on Monday proposed military talks with North Korea this week, the first government-level talks since late 2015, in an effort to halt hostile activities near their joint border and after a series of missile tests by the North in recent weeks.
The proposal is the first formal overture by the government of President Moon Jae-in, who came to power in May pledging to engage the North in dialogue, as well as to apply pressure on Pyongyang to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula. "We request military talks with the North on July 21 at Tongilgak to stop all hostile activities that raise military tension at the military demarcation line," South Korea's Vice Defence Minister Suh Choo-suk told a media briefing.
The vice defence minister did not elaborate on the meaning of hostile military activities, which varies between the two Koreas.
Moon has suggested hostile military activities be halted at the inter-Korean border on July 27, the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. The South Korean Red Cross on Monday proposed talks with the North to discuss reunions of family members separated during the Korean War. It suggested talks be held on August 1, with possible reunions over the Chuseok holiday, which falls in October this year.
Pyongyang has repeatedly said it refuses to engage in all talks with the South unless Seoul turns over 12 waitresses who defected to the South
last year.
However, Japan downplayed South Korea's offer to hold military talks with North Korea, saying the priority should be piling pressure on Pyongyang through sanctions.
"This is not a time for dialogue. This is a time for pressure," Japan's foreign ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama told reporters on Monday in New York where Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was attending a UN meeting on
development.