SEOUL: South Korea proposed on Monday (Nov 17) talks with Pyongyang to avoid border clashes, the first such offer in seven years as Seoul seeks to ease military tensions with the nuclear-armed North.
Citing recent incursions by North Korean troops, Kim Hong-cheol, deputy minister for national defence policy, told a news briefing that military-to-military channels can help avert an escalation.
"To prevent accidental clashes and ease military tensions, our military officially proposes that the two sides hold inter-Korean military talks to discuss the establishment of a clear reference line for the MDL," he said, referring to the military demarcation line on the border.
Seoul and Pyongyang technically remain at war as the 1953 Armistice Agreement that halted the conflict between them was never followed by a a peace treaty.
The MDL lies inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), a four-kilometre-wide buffer zone that runs for 250 kilometres across the Korean peninsula.
Kim said there had been repeated crossings of the demarcation line by North Korean soldiers "while installing tactical roads, fences, and laying mines".
South Korean troops fired warning shots and issued broadcasts to encourage the North Koreans to retreat, he said.
The proposed military talks follow South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's offer of broader discussions with the North without preconditions, a sharp reversal from the hawkish stance taken by his conservative predecessor.
Lee has taken several steps to ease tensions since taking office in June, including removing propaganda loudspeakers along the border and banning the dropping of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
North Korea has yet to respond to Lee's overtures.
If it accepts the latest proposal, it will mark the first military talks between the two sides since 2018.
Border markers
Kim said the recent incursions by North Korean troops came about because of "the loss of many MDL markers" that were installed under the 1953 agreement at the end of the Korean War.
That had led to "differing perceptions of the boundary in certain areas by both sides", raising the risk of clashes, he said.
The North has violated the border line about 10 times this year, according to Seoul's defence ministry.
A ministry official, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity, said that there had been attempts to fix demarcation line markers, but such efforts have stalled for more than 50 years.
"In 1973, during maintenance work on the MDL markers by the United Nations Command, North Korean forces opened fire, and maintenance has been suspended since then," he said.
Lee's attempts to advance dialogue with Pyongyang have replaced former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's hardline approach to the North, which has drawn increasingly close to Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
With inter-Korean relations at one of their lowest points in years, the two countries engaged in a tit-for-tat propaganda war in 2024.
The North sent thousands of trash-filled balloons southwards in retaliation for propaganda balloons launched by South Korean activists.
Yoon's hawkish policies were halted when he was impeached and removed from office over his declaration of martial law in December.
His ouster led to a snap presidential election in June, which brought Lee to power. - AFP
