Seoul will propose holding working-level inter-Korean defense talks sometime in mid-February, officials here said Monday, which would be the first dialogue between the two sides after the North's deadly bombardment of a border island in November.
"We plan to make the proposal on Wednesday or Thursday," a defense ministry official said, adding the venue for the working-level meeting would be the truce village of Panmunjom that sits in the middle of the heavily armed border dividing the two Koreas.
The talks are expected to be led by Col. Moon Sang-gyun of the South and Col. Ri Son-kwon of the North, the official said.
In its latest dialogue offensive, North Korea suggested last week that the two sides hold a meeting between senior defense officials to "resolve pending military issues."
The South's defense ministry accepted the North's offer and proposed the preceding working-level discussion, but said no decision has been made on whether there would be ministerial dialogue, conditioning such dialogue to being able to verify Pyongyang's sincerity.
Seoul says the high-level talks can be held if North Korea acknowledges its responsibility for the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November and the torpedoing of a warship last March.
In the proposal last week, the North said it wants to discuss its "viewpoint" on the attacks, according to a report by its state media, the Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has so far denied any involvement in the torpedo attack of the Cheonan warship that killed 46 sailors, although a multinational investigation confirmed the North's culpability. Pyongyang has also claimed that its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, in which two marines and two civilians died, was legitimate because the South provoked first by holding a life-fire drill near the island with some shells falling on the North's side.