North Korea on Saturday agreed to hold working-level talks with South Korea at the truce village of Panmunjom to prepare for a planned ministerial dialogue between the two divided countries, officials here said.
The preparatory working-levels talks are now set for 10 a.m. Sunday at the Freedom House, an administrative building in the southern side of the joint security area, said the Unification Ministry officials.
The two Koreas have already agreed to hold a Cabinet-level meeting in Seoul on Wednesday. The Cabinet-level meeting, if held, will be the first of its kind since 2007.
North Korea had proposed its border city of Kaesong as a venue of the working-level talks but South Korea on Friday counterproposed the truce village as a meeting place, which North Korea accepted on Saturday.
The North's letter of acceptance was convened to Seoul through a Red Cross phone line reopened on Thursday after being severed by the North in March due to rising cross-border military tensions, the officials said.
North Korea will be represented at the meeting by thee director-level officials, they said, quoting the North's message.
When it proposed the government-level talks with South Korea earlier this week, North Korea suggested that both sides discuss a wide-range of issues, including reopening a shuttered joint industrial complex, resuming cross-border tours and reunions of separated families.
The two Koreas remain divided since 1945. They fought a bloody three-year in the early 1950s.
The preparatory working-levels talks are now set for 10 a.m. Sunday at the Freedom House, an administrative building in the southern side of the joint security area, said the Unification Ministry officials.
The two Koreas have already agreed to hold a Cabinet-level meeting in Seoul on Wednesday. The Cabinet-level meeting, if held, will be the first of its kind since 2007.
North Korea had proposed its border city of Kaesong as a venue of the working-level talks but South Korea on Friday counterproposed the truce village as a meeting place, which North Korea accepted on Saturday.
The North's letter of acceptance was convened to Seoul through a Red Cross phone line reopened on Thursday after being severed by the North in March due to rising cross-border military tensions, the officials said.
North Korea will be represented at the meeting by thee director-level officials, they said, quoting the North's message.
When it proposed the government-level talks with South Korea earlier this week, North Korea suggested that both sides discuss a wide-range of issues, including reopening a shuttered joint industrial complex, resuming cross-border tours and reunions of separated families.
The two Koreas remain divided since 1945. They fought a bloody three-year in the early 1950s.
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