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Koreas agree to hold high-level talks next month

November 27, 2015

Kim Ki-woong (R), South Korea’s chief delegate for working-level inter-Korean talks, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Hwang Chol at the truce village of Panmunjom on Nov. 26, 2015, at the start of the meeting to prepare for high-level government talks. (Photo provided by the Unification Ministry) (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South and North Korea agreed Friday to hold high-level government talks next month as they are seeking to mend strained ties following a landmark deal in August on easing military tension.

The two sides plan to hold vice-ministerial dialogue at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North’s border city of the same name on Dec. 11, according to the Unification Ministry.

They reached the agreement in marathon working-level talks that began a day earlier at the border village of Panmunjom.

“Agendas for the high-level talks will be pending issues in connection with the improvement of inter-Korean relations,” the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.

The move is part of efforts to implement the Aug. 25 deal to make efforts to defuse tension and hold high-level talks as soon as possible. At that time, the two Koreas had agreed to hold such talks either in Seoul or Pyongyang.

Inter-Korean relations have showed signs of improvement as both sides eked out the deal following heightened tension over a land-mine blast blamed on the North in early August. The incident maimed two South Korean soldiers near the border.

As part of the deal, the two Koreas held reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in late October. They still remain technically at war as the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

“The government plans to prepare for the upcoming high-level talks in a bid to help the inter-Korean ties genuinely improve,” Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, told a press briefing.

He said that at the working-level meeting, Seoul pointed out the urgency of resolving the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

“North Korea, for its part, claimed that the resumption of a joint tour program at Mount Kumgang is the pressing issue,” he said.

The North did not make any comment on Seoul’s punitive sanctions against Pyongyang following the North’s deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010.

North Korea has repeatedly called on the South to resume the Mount Kumgang tour program, a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, as it faces difficulty in earning hard currency under a set of sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.

The tour has been put on hold since 2008, following the death of a South Korean female tourist by a North Korean solider at the scenic resort.

Meanwhile, Seoul is seeking to hold family reunions on a regular basis as time is running out for the separated family members, whose number reaches more than 66,000 in South Korea. But the North has not responded to Seoul’s call so far.

The upcoming talks are expected to help bring rapprochement to the Seoul-Pyongyang relations if the two sides can yield tangible results, analysts said.

The agreement also came as discussion is under way for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit North Korea. It is not clear if or when such a trip will occur, but if realized, his visit would help better inter-Korean ties.