The proposal comes days after Pyongyang says it moved new army models into ‘firing positions’ alongside the border.
Revealed On 23 Oct 2026
South Korea has proposed holding army talks with North Korea in a bid to calm rising tensions over their closely fortified border.
Seoul stated on Friday that it had invited Pyongyang to debate restoring communication channels. The supply was made as army exercise on the border will increase.
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Talks with North Korea would goal to “mutually verify” the exact location of the land Navy Demarcation Line (MDL), “focus on methods to revive army communication strains and forestall unintended clashes in border areas”, Kim Hong-cheol, deputy minister for nationwide defence coverage, informed reporters.
“Particular dates and areas could possibly be mentioned by means of Panmunjom,” Kim stated, referring to the symbolic truce village on the North-South border the place troopers from each Koreas stand head to head.
He added that the South was open to three-way talks involving the United States-led United Nations Command and hoped for “a optimistic response from North Korea”.
It stays unclear whether or not North Korea would conform to talks. Leader Kim Jong Un has taken a hardline method in the direction of Seoul and suspended just about all dialogue and cooperation with the South lately.
In the meantime, Pyongyang has raised its army exercise alongside the border and continues to take action.
On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the highly effective sister of the North Korean chief, introduced that new army models have been moved into “firing positions” alongside the border.
Mines, barbed-wire fences, tactical roads, antitank partitions and different fortifications have additionally been added to one of many world’s most closely armed borders.
Tensions have worsened since final month when three South Korean troopers had been injured by explosions close to the army demarcation line within the western part of the Demilitarized Zone, the buffer zone that runs between the Koreas, generally often called the DMZ.
The South blamed the blast on landmines laid by the North and demanded an apology. Pyongyang has fiercely rejected the accusation.
Seoul’s Ministry of Nationwide Defence stated on Friday that it was tough to foretell “what additional incidents may happen if this example is allowed to proceed unaddressed”.
The ministry famous {that a} proposal for talks final yr didn’t obtain a response from Pyongyang.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has known as for the North to return to dialogue. Nevertheless, Kim Yo Jong responded by slamming the suggestion of bilateral talks as “the climax of the farce”.
