N. Korea ready for talks with Seoul
North Korea said on Sunday it was open to inter-Korean military talks to address the sinking of a South Korean warship but urged the United States to cease its involvement in the case.
The North, however, renewed a demand that the South first allow Pyongyang to carry out its own inspection to verify the facts of the case — a condition Seoul has refused. “Our intention was to dispatch our inspection group to South Korea from the very day the authorities linked the case with us and then open North-South high-level military talks to discuss the results of the inspection,” an unnamed military official from the North said in a message disclosed by the official news agency KCNA. “We still remain unchanged in our stand to open the above-said military talks and probe the truth about the case,” the official said in a telephone message sent to the US side.
The statement came just a day after G8 leaders condemned the sinking of the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in an official communiqué released after two days of talks in Canada. Tensions are running high following the sinking of the South’s corvette near the maritime border in March with the loss of 46 lives. US President Barack Obama said in Toronto he stood “foursquare” behind South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak and scolded North Korea for its “irresponsible behaviour”.
South Korea, citing the findings of a multinational probe, says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship and is pressing for the United Nations to censure the Communist regime. —AFP
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