North, South Koreans Stalemated; More Talks Due Monday

A second day of talks between parliamentary delegations from North and South Korea ended in a stalemate Saturday, but the two sides agreed to meet again Monday at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

The talks, which the south hopes will lead to a breakthrough for North Korean participation in next month’s Seoul Olympics, are centered on proposals to convene a large-scale meeting of the national assemblies of each nation in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang at the end of the month. The lawmakers then plan to discuss a nonaggression pact and try to thrash out a solution to the Pyongyang government’s Olympic boycott.

Although the talks got off to a cordial beginning Friday, mutual mistrust became more apparent Saturday.

The head of the five-member South Korean delegation, Park Jun Kyu, told reporters he thought the North Korean side was less interested in resolving the Olympic question than in maneuvering to have U.S. troops removed from South Korea through a nonaggression pact.

Chon Kum Chol, leader of the delegation from the north, accused the other side of being “insincere” in Saturday’s session.

Noting the urgency of arranging for Olympic participation--Seoul organizers have set Sept. 2 as a deadline for last-minute registration of individual competitors--Park proposed holding a separate meeting in Pyongyang solely to negotiate on the Olympics. The north did not respond directly to the new proposal, but indicated it would adhere rigidly to its demand that Pyongyang be allowed to co-host the games. Seoul has rejected co-hosting as impossible since north-south negotiations sponsored by the International Olympic Committee broke down last year.