NLL or leaflets are not the agenda for discussions with Pyongyang

North and South Korean high-ranking military officials met in seven years on Wednesday and discussed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), leaflets with messages critical of North Korea, and suspension of slandering. Though they could not resolve their differences, the meeting was meaningful in that both sides shared their views on key issues ahead of the second high-level inter-Korean contact. Even after the senior North Korean delegation visited Incheon on Oct. 4, tensions were so escalating that the two Koreas exchanged fire across their borders as a North Korean vessel crossed the NLL and South Korean civic groups sent the leaflets to North Korea. It is meaningful that the inter-Korean military talk was held against this backdrop.

During the meeting, North Korea repeatedly demanded South Korean naval vessels should not cross the "West Sea Military Demarcation Line,” which it had declared one-sidedly, and tried to nullify the NLL. It is a repeat of its proposal in 2000. Back then, the North proposed a more southerly line than the current NLL, while claiming that the southerly line includes South Korea’s five most northern islands such as Baeknyeong Island, Daecheong Island and Yeonpyeong Island, and South Korean vessels would be allowed to pass the sea. It is such a nonsense.

The NLL has been our maritime demarcation line since the end of the Korean War. According to the basic agreement between the two Koreans in December 1991, “Both Koreas’ non-aggression demarcation line will be the military demarcation line defined in the Korea Armistice Agreement in July 1953 and the two Koreas will govern the territories that have governed respectively so far.” Therefore, if there is a need to draw a new maritime demarcation line replacing the NLL, it should be discussed in the joint military committee according to the basic agreement and it cannot be part of the agenda for the inter-Korean military talk.

The South Korean government cannot prevent sending leaflets to the North as it is done by non-government organizations. Although South Korea does not engage in psychological warfare with the North any longer, Pyongyang would know that there is no legal ground for Seoul to stop civic organizations from sending messages of freedom. President Park said the two Koreas can have a dialogue over the May 24 sanctions against North Korea, and Pyongyang could have asked specific conditions for the dialogue in Wednesday`s military talk. Still Seoul needs to make clear that it can review Pyongyang`s request in a positive way only when Pyongyang admits its wrongdoings in the sinking of the Cheonan naval corvette and promises not to let it happen again in the upcoming high-level inter-Korean talk early next month.

The South Korean government did not reveal the agenda and participants during the talk on Wednesday, claiming that North Korea demanded the talk be private, and eventually gave a briefing after the talk ended. The government had promised to be transparent in its North Korea policy, but still seems to stick to secrecy. In the inter-Korean relations, haste makes waste. There will be no problem and the people will not misunderstand the government, when it follows in a right path.