North and South Korea have agreed to hold talks at the vice-minister level next month in another attempt to improve their frosty ties.
The vice-minister-level talks will be held on Dec. 11 at the industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong just a few km on the northern side of the border, a joint press statement said.
“The agenda will be issues that will improve relations between the South and the North," the statement issued after the two sides held working-level meeting at the border village of Panmunjom on Thursday.
Thursday’s border meeting was the first inter-governmental interaction since senior officials from both sides met in Panmunjom in August to defuse a crisis that had pushed both sides to the brink of a military clash.
In August, the two sides held lengthy border talks and agreed to resume a high-level dialogue. Seoul later switched off propaganda loudspeakers at the heavily fortified border after the North expressed regret over a land mine blast that maimed two South Korean soldiers.
As part of the Aug agreement, the two sides held reunions last month of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean war.
If high-level dialogue makes progress, the North is likely to demand the resumption of cross-border tours from the South to its Mount Kumgang resort, a once-lucrative source of cash for the impoverished state that was suspended in 2008.
Seoul in turn is expected to try to get Pyongyang to agree to hold family reunions on a regular basis.
By Alex Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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