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Post by bot on Jun 5, 2004 20:22:31 GMT -5
South and North Korea agree to ease tension SEOUL: South and North Korea agreed on Friday on a package of measures to ease tension along their border, after high-level talks on preventing clashes, a foreign news agency reported.
Military generals from the two sides agreed on measures to avoid accidental clashes in the disputed western sea border, said a statement issued after overnight marathon talks, which began on Thursday.
Naval skirmishes in the fishing grounds off the western coast during the May-June crab season have disrupted rapprochement in recent years on the peninsula.
The measures agreed on Friday include setting up of a telephone hotline, sharing a radio frequency, using joint signaling systems and exchanging information on illicit fishing in the area, starting from June 15. South and North Korea also agreed to stop propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and to dismantle propaganda signboards along the 248-kilometer land border by August 15.
The two sides will hold another round of working-level talks in the North Korean border city of Kaesong next Thursday to discuss ways of implementing what they have agreed, the South’s spokesman Colonel Moon Sung-Mook said. Friday’s breakthrough came after tough sessions, originally set for Thursday only but extended by another day at South Korea’s Mount Seorak resort, 200 kilometers east of Seoul.
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