North Korea and the United States have agreed to hold "working-level" talks on resuming recovery missions for the remains of American troops killed during the Korean War on Oct. 16-18 in Bangkok, a senior Seoul diplomat said Tuesday.
The talks come amid a flurry of recent diplomatic efforts by South Korea and the U.S. to reopen the long-stalled six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.
"To my understanding, North Korea and the U.S. agreed to hold working-level talks on Oct. 16-18 in the Thai capital of Bangkok," the senior diplomat said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.
"The two sides agreed to resume the talks from the perspective of humanitarianism, and the talks, if resumed, won't affect ongoing diplomatic efforts to reopen the six-party talks."
Aaron Tarver, a spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Seoul, declined to confirm the information, but said, "The United States considers remains recovery operations to be an important humanitarian mission."
North Korean and U.S. officials had met on the issue in Bangkok in 2003 and agreed to conduct more recovery missions. (Yonhap)