According to Ministry of Defense, The general-grade meeting is aimed at discussing a joint fishing area in the Yellow Sea and other rapprochement works agreed by two summits of North-South Korea two months ago.
Army Maj. Gen. Lee Hong-kee started his opening comments with news that South Korea’s naval patrol ship rescued five North Korean fisherman on a small boat that had been adrift for nearly a month. They were repatriated to the North on Tuesday.
"It was very lucky," Lee, who leads the South’s five-member delegation, said at the start of the meeting at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
He also emphasized that the just-resumed inter-Korean cargo train service will help promote the Gaeseong industrial complex's active business. Lee said ways of militarily supporting the industrial town will be discussed in the first day, with the thornier subject of the fishing zone to be handled on Thursday.
"In particular, if we reach a compromise on facilitating passage, customs, and communication (into Gaeseong industrial complex) today, it willhit upthe project, which is shifting to the second phase," he said.
Lee’s counterpart echoed expectations for this week’s talks, welcoming the new South Korean negotiator. Lee replaced Jeong Seung-jo, who was promoted last month to the rank of lieutenant general and commander of the Second Corps, as Seoul’s top delegate to the general-grade talks with Pyongyang.
"A new face always injects fresh vigor," the North’s chief negotiator Kim Yong-chol said. "The talks will fare well, and the both see that everything's going well."
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