North and South Korea resume talks to defuse war fears

North and South Korean officials resumed a second round of talks Sunday in an effort to end a standoff that threatened to escalate into a full-scale military confrontation.

The talks, in the border village of Panmunjom, restarted after the delegates failed to reach an agreement at Saturday's initial meeting, which was adjourned at 4:15 a.m. Sunday.

South Korea's military reported Sunday that it detected unusual troop and submarine movements in North Korea that indicated Pyongyang was strengthening its capacity for a possible strike, the Associated Press reported.

An official from Seoul's Defense Ministry, who did not want to be named because of office rules, told the news agency that about 70% of the North's 77 submarines had left their bases and were undetectable by the South Korean military as of Saturday.

The official also said the North had doubled the strength of its front-line artillery forces since the start of the talks Saturday evening.

Saturday's meeting began shortly after a deadline set by Pyongyang earlier this week for South Korea to remove loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korea messages across the border. The deadline passed without incident Saturday. Lengthy talks between the two Koreas are not unusual.

Tensions had been rising on the heavily armed Korean Peninsula since the two countries exchanged artillery fire Thursday. North Korea had said it was mobilizing troops and threatened "all-out war" if South Korea did not halt the propaganda broadcasts.

Seoul had resumed the broadcasts after an 11-year hiatus following the wounding of two South Korean soldiers by a North Korean land mine earlier this month.