S Korea accepts N Korea’s offer to hold talks

High-level discussions would be the first since the Koreas agreed to improve ties after an armed standoff in August.

North Korea, Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border
The North's government proposed the meeting with the South to be held on November 26 [Reuters]

South Korea has accepted North Korea’s offer for high-level talks next week, South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

The North’s government proposed the meeting with the South to be held on November 26 at the truce village on their heavily militarised border.

The talks would be the first government-level meeting focused on easing tensions between the Cold War rivals since the two sides agreed to improve ties following an armed standoff in August.

The South has proposed to hold government talks on several occasions following a ceasefire agreement on August 25. The two sides had exchanged artillery fire following land mine blasts at the Demilitarised Zone – the most militarised border in the world.

The North expressed regret over the land mine incident that wounded South Korean soldiers. The South said the North’s expression of regret was in effect an apology, although Pyongyang subsequently denied it.

As part of the August agreement, the two sides held reunions last month of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War. North and South Korea are technically still at war because the conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Relations between the neighbours have been all but frozen since the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors – an incident Seoul blamed on the North. Pyongyang denied any role.

Later that year, the North bombed an island in South Korea, killing four people.

Source: Al Jazeera