North Korean military officers were unwilling at recent talks to discuss South Korea's proposal to remove their respective guard posts along the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two countries, South Korean officials said Friday, AP reported. The North Korean officials seemed pessimistic about the South's suggestion made during working-level military talks Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The North «said it was not appropriate to discuss a number of issues at the same time and it is desirable to completely finalize one issue after another,» the ministry said. Since last month's deadly rampage by a conscript that killed eight soldiers at a front-line unit, South Korean lawmakers have called for removal of the guard posts that are stationed inside the 4-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) Demilitarized Zone in violation of a cease-fire agreement signed in 1953. --mor 1121 Local Time 0821 GMT
