South Korean protesters with a defaced North Korean flag stage a rally against North Korea on Unification Bridge, which leads to the demilitarized zone, near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on Monday. — AP
PYONGYANG, North Korea — South Korea's president on Monday vowed a hard line and signaled Seoul's mounting frustration as marathon negotiations by senior officials from the rival Koreas stretched into a third day. Park Geun-hye said that without a clear North Korean apology for a land mine attack that maimed two soldiers, anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts will continue. Her strong words provide a good hint at why the talks, which started Saturday evening and whose second session began Sunday afternoon and was still going Monday afternoon, have dragged on. For now, the try at diplomacy has pushed aside previous heated warnings of imminent war, but South Korea's military said North Korea has continued to prepare for a fight, moving unusual numbers of troops and submarines to the border. North Korea has denied involvement in the land mine explosions earlier this month and rejected Seoul's report that Pyongyang launched an artillery barrage last week — so winning an apology will be difficult work. Pyongyang demands that Seoul stop the propaganda broadcasts started in retaliation for the land mine attack. These are the highest-level talks between the two Koreas in a year. And just the fact that senior officials from countries that have spent recent days vowing to destroy each other are sitting together at a table in Panmunjom, the border enclave where the 1953 armistice ending fighting in the Korean War was agreed to, is something of a victory. The length of the talks — nearly 10 hours for the first session and more than 21 for the second — and the lack of immediate progress are not unusual. While the Koreas often have difficulty agreeing to talks, once they do, overlong sessions are often the rule. After decades of animosity and bloodshed, however, finding common ground is much harder. President Park said during a meeting with top aides that Seoul would not “stand down even if North Korea ratchets up provocation to its highest level and threatens our national security.” — AP
