Inter-Korean military talks end without breakthrough

South and North Korea held their first high-level military talks in seven years on Wednesday, but failed to reach agreement on pending issues such as inter-Korean clashes near the tense western maritime border, Yonhap news agency cited Seoul's defense ministry as saying.
"The two Koreas held the closed-door contact involving military officials from 10 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom after North Korea proposed the meeting to discuss the recent exchange of fire between their patrol boats in the Yellow Sea," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
The meeting, which ended at 3:10 p.m., failed to produce any meaningful agreements "due to the differences between the two sides," he added.
South Korea was represented by Ryu Je-seung, Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy, and the North by Kim Yong-chol, who leads the Reconnaissance General Bureau, he added.
During Wednesday's meeting, Pyongyang demanded the South "ban its ships from entering the areas it claims as the inter-Korean sea border, stop civic groups from sending propaganda leaflets and refrain from slander including in the press," Kim said.
In response, South Korea called on the North to abide by the NLL, stressing that it is "not possible for the democratic government to control civic groups or media," according to the ministry.