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Koreas agree on govt.-level meeting

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:9AM GMT

North and South Korea have reached an agreement on holding a government-level meeting in Seoul aimed at rebuilding trust.

The agreement came on early Monday after nearly 18 hours of negotiations between the government delegates from the two sides in the village of Panmunjom - the ‘truce village’ on the border.

South Korean local media reported that during the marathon talks Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold their first high-level talks since 2007, on June 12 and 13 in South Korea’s capital.

The South Korean Unification Ministry also said the two sides had reached a partial understanding on several important issues during the Panmunjom negotiations.

Meanwhile, the North Korean official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the meeting would concentrate on restarting suspended commercial links between the two nations, including the Kaesong joint industrial complex. The jointly-run industrial zone was closed in April amid growing tensions.

“It was agreed to discuss immediate and urgent matters concerning the inter-Korean relations including the issue of normalizing the operation of the Kaesong industrial zone, the issue of resuming the tour of Mt. Kumgang, the issue of reunion of separated families and their relatives and other humanitarian issues,” KCNA quoted a press release as saying after the talks ended.

On June 7, North Korea reconnected a hotline between the two countries that had been severed in March due to the tensions.

Kaesong is located on the North Korean side of the fortified border and houses the operations of over 120 South Korean companies, employing both South and North Korean workers.

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of military rhetoric over the past few months.

The rhetoric escalated when the United States and South Korea held joint military exercises in April, with the participation of US nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers. North Korea censured the drills and warned Washington and Seoul against a “preemptive attack,” which could develop into an “all-out war.”

On June 1, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Seoul and Washington would maintain a strong alliance in the face of what they described as potential threats from North Korea.

MR/HN