NKorea agrees to talks with SKorea

SKOREA: North Korea agreed Tuesday to hold talks with South Korea this week, apparently signalling a wish for better relations a day after it test-fired short-range missiles.

Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s request for talks on flood prevention on Wednesday and discussions on humanitarian issues including family reunions on Friday, Seoul’s unification ministry said in a statement. It comes after the North Monday fired five missiles off its east coast, the first launch for more than three months.

There are signs it is preparing later Tuesday to launch more short-range missiles off its west coast, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korean officials normally describe the launches as part of regular military exercises, although they are sometimes timed to make a political point. The North is under pressure to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks that it quit in April.

For more than a year Pyongyang was bitterly hostile to the South’s conservative government, which scrapped a “sunshine” aid and engagement policy with its communist neighbour.

Relations were also strained by the North’s nuclear and missile tests in the spring, but it began making peace overtures in August.

Seoul, Tuesday, AFP