[Editorial] What Will the South Korea-North Korea War Conference Accomplish?

At the 14th minister-level conference, South Korea and North Korea finally reached an agreement on holding a war conference. Kwan Ho-woong, a member of the North Korean delegation, said, “The (North Korea) authorities agreed to hold a conference.” Regarding the possibility of actualizing the conference became higher, this could be a desirable result.

The promise of a conference is not fresh news. At the 13th minister-level conference held at Seoul in February, South Korea and North Korea already agreed to hold a war conference. Nevertheless, to our regret, North Korea destroyed the atmosphere by asking for the discontinuance of Korea-U.S. joint training as a prerequisite.

There is pulling and pushing because the South Korea-North Korea conference is an arena of negotiation. If they repeat ignorance of promises made in writing, however, it becomes more difficult to build trust. Just as the ground becomes harder after rain, we expect that the war conference, which has been re-consented to after debate, contributes to improved relations between North and South Korea.

To prevent an accidental armed conflict in May and June, which is blue crab season, the government suggested a war conference. Since there have already been two armed conflicts in June in the western sea, the sooner the war conference takes place the better. Considering damage from Chinese fishing, a discussion between military authorities of South Korea and North Korea is more urgent.

The government should prepare a proper strategy after analyzing the attitude of North Korean military authorities. An easing of strained relations between the military authorities, along with unarmed interchange, is a goal of the South Korea-North Korea conference. If South Korea and North Korea can prepare a plan to remove the possibility of armed conflict around the northern limit line (NLL), it would be a marvelous chance to ease strained relations between two countries.