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North and South Korea agreed today after marathon talks to hold a government-level meeting in Seoul with the aim of rebuilding trust following months of tensions and threats of nuclear war.
Yesterday's preparatory discussions -- weighed down, as always, by decades of mutual distrust -- were held in the border truce village of Panmunjom where the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War was signed.
After nearly 18 hours of negotiations, the two sides early today reached agreement on holding their first high-level talks since 2007, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.
The main challenge was to agree a framework for the talks to be held in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday.
South Korea had called for a ministerial meeting but the talks are now described as a government meeting between the two sides.
The Unification Ministry in Seoul said the two sides had reached a partial understanding on outstanding issues during the Panmunjom talks, Yonhap said.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency meanwhile said the meeting would focus on restoring suspended commercial links, including the Kaesong joint industrial complex that the North effectively shut down in April as tensions between the historic rivals peaked.
It said other issues included reunion of families separated since the war and the resumption of tours by South Koreans to the North's Mount Kumgang resort. These were suspended after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist there in July 2008.
"It was agreed to discuss immediate and urgent matters concerning the inter-Korean relations including the issue of normalising 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.
Yesterday's talks came about after an unexpected reversal from North Korea, which suddenly dropped its default tone of high-decibel belligerence and proposed opening a dialogue.
South Korea responded swiftly with its offer of a ministerial meeting in Seoul, the North countered with a request for lower-level talks first and -- after some relatively benign to-and-fro about the best venue -- yesterday's meet in Panmunjom was agreed.
In a further signal of intent, North Korea on Friday restored its official hotline with the South, which it had severed in March.
