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- WORLD, Page 45World NotesDIPLOMACYTalking About Talks
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- The enmity between North and South Korea is so bitter that
- the diplomatic world considers it an important step when the
- two sides merely talk about talking. Thus there was muted
- applause last week when the North Korean government agreed to
- send a delegation to Panmunjom on Feb. 8 to discuss arrangements
- for a meeting between Prime Minister Yon Hyong Muk and his
- South Korean counterpart, Kang Young Hoon. Seoul had proposed
- such a meeting last year, hoping for an eventual summit between
- South Korean President Roh Tae Woo and North Korean President
- Kim Il Sung.
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- The North Koreans expressed little interest in a summit but
- suggested that the Prime Ministers hold talks on such
- long-standing Northern demands as the withdrawal of U.S. forces
- from the Korean peninsula. The Roh government would have
- preferred to start discussions on less contentious topics, but
- went along with the Pyongyang proposal. Said Roh: "There are
- changes in the North that cannot be easily seen. I think we
- will have a summit meeting in the not too distant future."
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