SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Friday proposed holding military talks with North Korea to clarify the location of their disputed border, restore military communication channels and prevent accidental clashes in frontline areas following landmine explosions that injured three South Korean soldiers.
It remains unclear whether Pyongyang will accept the proposal. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has adopted an increasingly hard-line stance toward Seoul, with virtually all inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation suspended in recent years.
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Meanwhile, North Korea has continued strengthening its border defenses by installing landmines, erecting barbed-wire fences, constructing tactical roads and building anti-tank barriers along one of the world’s most heavily militarized frontiers.
South Korea’s military has reported that North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line approximately 50 times this year while carrying out fortification work. Seoul said its forces responded with warning shots and loudspeaker broadcasts.
The latest proposal follows an earlier attempt by South Korea to initiate similar military talks in November, which North Korea did not respond to. Seoul has renewed its efforts to reduce tensions following landmine explosions on September 21 that injured three South Korean soldiers. South Korea’s military concluded that the blasts were caused by North Korean mines planted south of the Military Demarcation Line.
“South-North military talks be held to mutually confirm the exact location of the ground military demarcation line between the South and the North,” Kim Hong-Cheol, South Korea’s deputy minister for defense policy, said in a televised statement Friday.
He added that the proposed discussions would also address the restoration of military communication lines and measures to prevent accidental clashes along the border.
South Korea also expressed its willingness to participate in three-way talks involving the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the 1950–53 Korean War.
The proposal comes amid continuing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, where limited communication between the two sides raises concerns about the risk of miscalculations and unintended confrontations along the heavily fortified border.
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