서울에서 열리고 있는 남북 장관급 회담 사흘째인 31일 북한측은 대북 쌀 차관 제공을 유보하기로 한 한국 정부의 결정에 대해 본격적으로 이의를 제기하고 나섰습니다.
이에 따라 1일 끝날 예정인 이번 회담은 다른 의제에 대한 논의는 거의 하지 못한 채 난항을 겪고 있습니다. 한국 정부는 최근 북 핵 2.13 합의를 대북 쌀 차관 제공과 연계하기로 하고, 이달 말로 예정됐던 북한에 대한 40만t의 쌀 지원을 일단 유보한 바 있습니다.
북한측 단장인 권호웅 내각 책임참사는 이날 열린 수석대표 접촉에서 한국 정부가 40만t 쌀 차관 제공을 유보하기로 한 데 대해 이의를 제기했다고 한국측 회담 대표인 고경빈 통일부 정책홍보본부장이 밝혔습니다.
한국 정부는 지난달 열린 남북경제협력추진위원회 제13차 회의에서 대북 쌀 차관 40만t을 5월 말부터 제공하기로 합의하면서 `북한의 2.13 합의 이행 여부에 따라 제공 시기와 속도를 조정할 수 있다고 밝힌 바 있습니다.
북한은 방코델타아시아 BDA 은행 내 자금 이체 문제를 이유로 2.13 합의 초기단계 조치 이행 시한을 50일 가까이 넘긴 31일 현재까지 영변의 핵시설을 폐쇄하지 않고 있습니다.
한편 남북한은 1일 오전 전체회의를 열고 회담을 마무리할 예정이지만 공동보도문이 마련될 수 있을지 불투명한 상황입니다.
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North and South Korea have set a date for military talks, aimed mainly at preventing conflict along their tense maritime border. That announcement came as diplomats from the two Koreas held talks in Seoul -- where South Korea told the North it will send food aid when Pyongyang lives up to its promises on nuclear weapons. VOA's Kurt Achin has more from the South Korean capital.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that military officers from North and South will meet next Friday in Panmunjom. That village is where a 1953 armistice halted fighting, but did not formally end, the Korean War.
The talks are expected to focus on preventing conflicts over the sea border. North Korean naval authorities this week announced they were patrolling the waters west of the Korean peninsula "with extra vigilance" and accused the South of "reckless military provocations."
North Korea does not accept the sea border established by the United Nations in 1953, and has been involved in at least two deadly skirmishes at sea with the South since 1999.
Separately, high-level diplomats from North and South held a second day of talks Thursday at a hotel here in Seoul. South Korean Unification Ministry Spokesman Koh Kyoung-bin told reporters that the North's delegates asked about a South Korean promise to ship 400-thousand tons of rice to the impoverished North.
Koh says South Korea's position about providing rice to the North has not changed -- it is something that will be done on the basis of trust. He says North and South should work cooperatively to resolve what he calls "a difficult situation."
North Korea has missed by nearly two months a deadline it agreed to earlier this year to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons programs. South Korea says the aid it promised was predicated on North Korea's implementation of that agreement, and says the shipment will be delayed until the North takes action.
Pyongyang blames the delay on a banking issue involving the transfer of 25 million dollars of its money from a bank in Macau. No international bank has been willing to handle the transfer since the U.S. Treasury Department announced the money was linked to illegal North Korean activities.
North Korea says there will be no progress on the nuclear issue until the funds are returned. Senior South Korean and U.S. officials say the financial issue will be resolved soon.