World Notes DIPLOMACY

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.

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."