North and South Korea Agree To Hold Senior-Level Meeting This Week To Continue Dialogue On Easing Military Tensions
Officials from North and South Korea will hold border talks this week as they prepare to enter a dialogue regarding easing tensions and improving ties between the two Koreas.
The preparatory meeting will be held on North Korea's side of the truce village in Panmunjom on Nov. 26, Thursday. It will be the first discussion regarding easing military tension since August this year, Yonhap News reports Wednesday.
"We will make efforts to reach an agreement (over the issues) smoothly as we believe that holding working-level talks well would be the first step in carrying out the deal," Unification Ministry spokesperson Jeong Joon Hee said in a press briefing.
According to TIME, members of North Korea's primary agency for intra-Korean relations proposed the meeting with South Korea, following the developments of the Aug. 25 discussion on easing hostilities between the two countries.
The August meeting marked put an end to the armed standoff, which stemmed from the land mine blasts at the Demilitarized zone for which South Korea blamed the North. The land mine blasts wounded two South Korean border guards, The New York Times reported Thursday.
At the upcoming meeting, North Korea is reportedly expected to bring up the reopening of the intra-Korean tour program at Mount Kumgang in the North which has been suspended since 2008 after a female South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean soldier.
South Korea might also address the issue of bringing together families that were separated by the Korean War. Seoul plans to hold family reunions on a regular basis. The number of separated family members is more than 66,000 in South Korea alone.
Seoul will most likely send Unification Minister Hong Yong Pyo to be South Korea's primary negotiator for the senior-level talks, while Seoul is hoping that the North will be represented by Kim Yang Gon, Pyongyang's top official in charge with inter-Korean relations.
