INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
tensions after the United States detected renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory.The meeting, their second since June, held in
the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), was designed to follow on from an inter-Korean summit in April at which
leaders of the two Koreas agreed to defuse tensions and halt "all hostile acts."Kim Do-gyun, the South's chief negotiator who is in charge
of North Korea policy at the defence ministry, told reporters before leaving for the DMZ that he would make efforts to craft "substantive"
measures to ease tensions and build trust.South Korea's defence ministry said last week it plans to reduce guard posts and equipment along
the heavily fortified border as an initial step to implement the agreement.On Monday, a senior United States official told Reuters that
United States spy satellites had detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced the country's first intercontinental
ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that North Korea was
continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs despite the country's leader Kim Jong Un vowing to work toward denuclearisation during a
summit with United States President Donald Trump in Singapore last month.Trump declared soon afterward that North Korea no longer posed a
nuclear threat, but Pyongyang has offered no details as to how it might go about denuclearisation and subsequent talks have not gone
smoothly.The North's state media has in recent days chastised the South for failing to swiftly move to improve inter-Korean relations
while only caring about the view of the United States calling for a thorough enforcement of sanctions.The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's
official party newspaper, on Tuesday accused Seoul of "wasting time" waiting for sanctions to be lifted only after denuclearisation is
completed, without "taking a single action" on its own.It called for steps to facilitate a restart of the previously jointly-run but now
closed programmes, such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex and tours to the North's Mount Kumgang resort.North Korea's propaganda website
Uriminjokkiri also criticised South Korea for its stance of keeping sanctions on Tuesday, saying "sanctions and conversation cannot exist
story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
