Koreas locked in dialogue for third day

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

A peaceful resolution to a tense inter-Korean standoff looked uncertain Monday, with North Korea still apparently preparing for war despite entering a third day of talks with South Korea at their border village of Panmunjom.

“Tough negotiations between high-level representatives of South and North Korea have been under way for many hours amid the grave security crisis on the Korean Peninsula,” Seoul’s presidential spokesperson Min Kyung-wook told reporters, who have been forced into guesswork since bilateral discussions began Saturday.

Indeed, Min cautioned journalists that “speculative reports” could be damaging.

But South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who is not directly involved in the talks, made her own public appeal to Pyongyang during a meeting with aides.

Following North Korea’s demand that the South put a stop to propaganda broadcasts at the border, Park insisted that the loudspeakers in question would only be switched off after an apology from Pyongyang.

South Korea’s psychological warfare kicked off earlier this month in response to landmine explosions that left two of its soldiers seriously wounded. Seoul was later joined by the United Nations Command in blaming North Korea.

Pyongyang maintains that it had nothing to do with the Aug. 4 blasts, while also denying starting a flashpoint last Thursday when the Koreas briefly exchanged artillery fire – albeit without causing casualties.

Ongoing talks involving the Koreas’ most powerful defense officials were hastily arranged Saturday as the clock ticked down to a deadline set by North Korea for the South to abandon its border broadcasts.

While North Korea’s threat of “military action” may have been temporarily averted, it also emerged Monday that the authoritarian state had deployed amphibious landing craft to its frontline.

Military sources cited by local news agency Yonhap suggested that about 10 North Korean air-cushioned landing craft had been mobilized – in addition to earlier reports that Pyongyang had called into action more than 50 submarines and double the normal level of artillery troops at the border.

Another grim signal came from North Korea’s state media Monday, which referred to the South as “puppets” of the United States, whose “confrontational mental illness has completely reached the late stage.”

Pyongyang had abandoned such derogatory rhetoric over the weekend, but returned to business as usual with its criticism of the allies, who fought together against the North during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The conflict has never truly been resolved as it ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.