PRESS RELEASE

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South Korea Accepts North's
High-Level Offer of Military Talks

Jan. 20, 2011 (EIRNS)—The British push for a new Korean war was further deterred today when South Korea's government said it has decided to accept a new North Korean proposal for high-ranking military talks, despite refusals of earlier North Korean offers. The current offer came directly from North Korea's Armed Forces Minister Kim Yong-chun in a telephone message sent to Seoul's Defense Minister, Kim Kwan-jin. The South was free to decide the subject, and the time and place for the talks, YTN television in the South reported.

"The South Korean government will come to the talks to ask North Korea to take responsible measures for the torpedoing of the Cheonan and the artillery attacks on Yeonpyeong, and promise not to conduct further military provocation in the future," said a Unification Ministry official. "The government will propose denuclearization talks between high-ranking government officials to sound out the North's real intention on the issue," said the official.