
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990                   TAG: 9007260566
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PANMUNJOM, KOREA                                LENGTH: Short

TWO KOREAS AGREE TO MEET

North and South Korea signed a historic agreement today calling for their prime ministers to meet for the first time in an effort to end four decades of Cold War confrontation on the divided peninsula.

Yet in a scenario that has become commonplace in inter-Korean relations, the day ended in controversy and name-calling with dissidents shouting anti-Seoul government slogans near the border.

The acrimony erupted over the aborted border crossing by five North Korean civilians and threatened to spread a blight on today's accord.

The planned fall talks between the prime ministers would focus on easing political and military tensions, promoting exchanges and other moves toward cooperation between the two states formed 42 years ago.

By signing the accord, North Korea's Communist government of Kim Il Sung tacitly recognized the legitimacy of the Seoul government of President Roh Tae-woo.

The 19-point accord was signed at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the 2 1/2-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone that separates the communist north from the capitalist south.

The first prime ministers' talks would be held Sept. 4-7 in Seoul. A second meeting is to be held Oct. 16-19 in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

The two prime ministers - Kang Young-hoon of South Korea and Yon Hyung Muk of North Korea - are ceremonial figureheads with little policy-making roles. But their meeting as the highest level ever between the two rival states is seen as symbolically significant.

The Koreas were divided after World War II. They fought a three-year civil war that ended in 1953 and have remained rivals since.

by CNB