 BUSAN, South Korea - South Korea raised the prospect on Thursday that high-level talks with North Korea could end without any agreement if the two sides fail to narrow differences in the wake of the communist nationÂ’s internationally condemned missile launches.
At the talks that run through Friday, the North has renewed a demand for rice aid. However, the South has previously said it would suspend such shipments in the wake of last week’s missile launches. “There is something that North Korea wants, such as rice aid,” said South Korean delegation spokesman Yang Chang-seok. “But we’ve made clear our position on that before the talks. If North Korea judges it has nothing to gain ... we could imagine a scenario where the two sides fail to narrow differences.”
| The NKors want the rice but won't give anything useful in return. Show's over, drop your popcorn containers in the trash can at the door. |
On Wednesday, the North even argued at the talks that its “songun,” or “army-first,” policy of strengthening its military gives protection to South Korea too - a claim immediately rejected by the South.
| Even the SKors are smart enough to realize that juche should stay home in the north. |
The South also warned the North against additional missile launches, saying if it conducts more that regional tensions would spike in an uncontrollable way and inter-Korean relations would be hurt further, Lee said.
| Sounds like an enabling spouse -- "clean up or I'll go home to Mother!" But they never do. |
Without responding to South KoreaÂ’s appeals, the North repeated a request for 500,000 tons of rice, proposed meetings of families separated by the heavily armed border and renewed a demand that the South stop military drills with the US, officials said. |