Gov't to moderate speed of inter-Korean talks

An government official said Monday that beginning with the third inter-Korean ministerial-level talks to be held Sept. 27-30 on Jeju island, the ministerial-level talks will serve as a major conference organization handling all inter-Korean discussions.

The official asserted that since the minister-level talks were established by a mutual agreement between the heads of the two Koreas as a follow-up measure to the June 15 joint declaration, the coming minister-level talks will basically focus on verifying what has been achieved since the second minister-level talks instead of promoting new efforts. The authority emphasized that the talks will center on cementing already agreed-upon fundamentals such as peaceful coexistence, reconciliation and cooperation.

The authority added that the working-level officials of the North are feeling burdened by various ongoing ventures with the South and asserted that the government will therefore adopt a more long-term stance in the inter-Korean normalization process.

Moreover, the official asserted that the government will promote the defense ministers' talks in a broader fashion within its overall policy towards the North and added that military issues will mainly be discussed in these meetings.

spear@donga.com