Koreas hold first talks in two years

SOUTH KOREA: North and South Korea held their first official talks for more than two years Sunday, confronting decades of mutual distrust in a search for some positive end to months of soaring military tensions.

The working-level discussions, which lasted less than two hours over a morning and afternoon session in the border truce village of Panmunjom, were to set up ministerial-level talks tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in Seoul.

The agenda there will 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.

“The overall atmosphere was... calm and the discussion proceeded with no major debates,” the South’s Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-Seok told reporters after the morning session.

The agenda, venue, date, duration of the ministerial meeting and the number of delegates were all discussed, Kim said.

The talks came about after an unexpected reversal on Thursday 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 -- Sunday’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.

The two Koreas last held working talks in February 2011, and they have not met at the ministerial level since 2007.

AFP