Rival Koreas to hold high-level talks to defuse war fears

PYONGYANG, North Korea — South Korea and North Korea agreed Saturday to hold their first high-level talks in nearly a year at a border village to defuse mounting tensions that have pushed the rivals to the brink of a possible military confrontation.

The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Seoul time (0900 GMT) in Panmunjom, would come 30 minutes after the deadline set by North Korea for South Korea to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda at their border. North Korea has declared its frontline troops are in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul doesn't back down.

The South Korean presidential office said its national security director, Kim Kwan-jin, and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo would sit down with Hwang Pyong So, the top political officer for the Korean People's Army, and Kim Yang Gon, a senior North Korean official responsible for South Korean affairs. Hwang is considered by outside analysts to be North Korea's second most important official after supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency also confirmed the planned meeting.

The meeting comes as a series of incidents raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control, starting with a land mine attack allegedly by the North that maimed two South Korean soldiers and the South's resumption of anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts.

An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry, who didn't want to be named because of office rules, said that the South would continue with the anti-Pyongyang border broadcasts until the end of North Korea's deadline, but said a decision had yet to be made on whether to continue with the broadcasts if the high-level meeting goes on as planned.

South Korea had been using 11 loudspeaker systems along the border for the broadcasts, which included the latest news around the Korean Peninsula and the world, South Korean popular music and programs praising the South's democracy and economic affluence over the North's oppressive government, a senior military official said at a news conference, on condition of anonymity.

Each loudspeaker system has broadcast for more than 10 hours a day in three or four different time slots that were frequently changed for unpredictably, the official said. If North Korea attacks the loudspeakers, the South is ready to strike back at the North Korean units responsible for such attacks, he said.

Authoritarian North Korea, which has also restarted its own propaganda broadcasts, is extremely sensitive to any criticism of its government. Analysts in Seoul also believe the North fears that the South's broadcasts could demoralize its frontline troops and inspire them to defect.

In Pyongyang, businesses were open as usual Saturday and street stalls selling ice cream were crowded as residents took breaks under parasols from the summer sun. There were no visible signs of increased security measures, though even under normal situations the city is heavily secured and fortified. More than 240 South Koreans entered a jointly run industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

The North's state-run media has strongly ratcheted up its rhetoric, saying the whole nation is bracing for the possibility of an all-out war. Leader Kim Jong Un has been shown repeatedly on TV news broadcasts leading a strategy meeting with the top military brass to review the North's attack plan, and young people are reportedly swarming to recruitment centers to sign up to join the fight.

"We have exercised our self-restraint for decades," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. "Now, no one's talk about self-restraint is helpful to putting the situation under control. The army and people of the DPRK are poised not just to counteract or make any retaliation but not to rule out all-out war to protect the social system, their own choice, at the risk of their lives."

People were willing to talk about the tension and, as is common in public in North Korea — officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — they voiced support for their government's policies and their leader. They also used phrases like "puppet gangsters" to refer to South Korean authorities — everyday terms in the North, in state media and conversation.

"I think that the South Korean puppet gangsters should have the clear idea that thousands of our people and soldiers are totally confident in winning at any cost because we have our respected leader with us," said Pyongyang citizen Choe Sin Ae.

It was not clear whether North Korea meant to attack immediately, if at all, but South Korea has vowed to continue the broadcasts, which it recently restarted following an 11-year stoppage after accusing Pyongyang of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.

Four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four F-15k South Korean fighter jets simulated bombings, starting on South Korea's eastern coast and moving toward the U.S. base at Osan, near Seoul, officials said.

South Korea's military on Thursday fired dozens of artillery rounds across the border in response to what Seoul said were North Korean artillery strikes meant to back up a threat to attack the loudspeakers.

U.S.-based experts on North Korea said the land mine blast and this week's shelling were the most serious security incidents at the border since Kim Jong Un came to power after the 2011 death of his father, Kim Jong Il. The country was founded by Kim Jong Un's grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

"If Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung was in charge, I would say that leadership in North Korea would recognize that South Korea has responded in kind to an attack and it's time to stand down," said Evans Revere, a former senior State Department official on East Asia. "But I'm not sure Kim Jong Un understands the rules of the game established by his father and grandfather on how to ratchet up tensions and then ratchet them down. I'm not sure if he knows how to de-escalate."

The North denies responsibility for the land mine attack and says it didn't fire across the border, a claim Seoul says is nonsense.

The standoff comes during annual military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea North Korea calls the drills a preparation for invasion, although the U.S. and South Korea insist they are defensive in nature.

In the South Korean border towns of Yeoncheon, Paju, Gimpo and on Ganghwa Island, officials said they told thousands of residents to move to shelters ahead of the Saturday afternoon deadline. Fishermen on Saturday were banned for the second straight day from entering waters near five South Korean islands near the disputed western sea border with North Korea, according to marine police officials in Incheon.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified government source, reported Friday that South Korean and U.S. surveillance assets detected the movement of vehicles carrying short-range Scud and medium-range Rodong missiles in a possible preparation for launches. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report.

The Koreas' mine-strewn Demilitarized Zone is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war. About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are deployed in South Korea to deter potential aggression from North Korea.