North Korea leader Kim Jong Un hails accord with South as landmark

|AUGUST 28 (Reuters) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called this week’s accord between the rival Koreas “a landmark occasion” paving the way for defused military tension and improved ties, but said it was the strength of its armed forces that made the deal possible, North’s state-run television KRT reported on Friday (August 28).

KRT released several still photographs of Kim convening an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), which is the same forum led by Kim last week that warned of military action unless Seoul stopped its propaganda broadcasts.

North and South Korea on Tuesday (August 25) agreed to end a military standoff that sparked an exchange of artillery fire and had ratcheted up tension on one of the world’s most heavily-fortified borders.

The two sides also agreed to open a new channel of dialogue to discuss a range of issues with the aim of improving ties, raising hopes for a fresh push to restore talks and exchanges that had been cut off since 2010.

The joint press release published at the contact provided a crucial landmark occasion of defusing the acute military tension and putting the catastrophic inter-Korean relations on the track of reconciliation and trust, KRT quoted Kim as saying in a meeting with military aides.

Kim also said the accord was reached “thanks to the tremendous military muscle with the nuclear deterrent for self-defence built by the great party as a pivot and matchless ranks single-mindedly united around the party,” KRT added.

On Friday, the South’s Unification Ministry said South Korea’s Red Cross had proposed, in a message sent to the North, to hold working-level talks in the border village of Panmunjom on September 7 to discuss reunions of separated families.

Tuesday’s accord included a pact to hold the reunions of families split during the 1950-53 Korean War, many of whom are aging and hoping to see lost family members for the last time.