Possibilty of Second round of talk for next week

The Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu has revealed that the ministry is working toward bringing about a working-level talks between the high ranking officials from both sides of the border. The upcoming round of talks will be for the actualization of the agreements hammered out during the Summit. The ministry is currently working toward the formation of an action committee of government officials and will submit a proposal for the round of talks to the North Korean officials some time next week.

Minister Park made the announcement during an invitational morning get-together sponsored by the Korea Development Research Institute (Chairman Ahn Mu-hyuk). Minister Park further explained, "The second round of talks will establish a framework in which the working-level officials will be able to work out the details." According to Minister Park, the list of high ranking officials is near finalization and the Ministry is wrestling with the question of how to include the citizen representative groups for this round of talks.

A government official involved in the current development has made it known that, for the working level talks to actualize the June 15th Summit, the National Security Council will take the center stage, and in non-defense related areas, other branches of government will play the role of supporters and observers at the talks.

YoungShic Kim spear@donga.com