PYONGYANG, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The third inter-Korean general-level military talks aimed at preventing conflicts in the West Sea started here on Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The third inter-Korean general-level military talks started here on Thursday. The talk is aimed at preventing conflicts in the West Sea.(Photo: Xinhua)

    During the talks held in Panmunjom, officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea discussed measures to prevent clashes in the water of the West Sea of Korea (the Yellow Sea) and share fishing there, KCNA said.

    The two-day meeting is the first round of talks between the two sides since the last inter-Korean general-level talks in South Korea in June, 2004.

    The DPRK delegation emphasized the issue of the West Sea "should be solved on the principle of promoting the co-prosperity and common interests of the nation", KCNA said.

    "There were no concrete agreements but the two sides agreed to continue cooperative discussions tomorrow," Col. Moon Sung-mook, a spokesman for the five-member South Korean delegation, said after the first-day meeting, according to Yonhap of South Korea.

    The Northern Limit Line (NLL) at the inter-Korean western sea border was marked by the United Nations Command after the 1950-1953 Korean War. South Korea viewed it as the inter-Korean western sea border, but the DPRK has not accepted the concept.

    Since 1998, there have been two bloody naval clashes along the disputed western sea border, causing heavy casualties on both sides. Enditem