North Korea, South Korea Hold Rare Talks Following Clashes

On Friday, Seoul’s Unification Ministry announced that North Korea had accepted the South’s invitation to hold a working-level meeting in the truce village of Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone.

“We will do our best to help get the inter-Korean deal fully implemented”, Seoul representative Kim Ki-woong told reporters before heading to the border meeting.

The North Korean delegation will be led by Hwang Chol, a senior official at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the North Korean body that handles inter-Korean affairs.

Choe Ryong Hae, 65, was punished for disagreeing with Kim’s policy of promoting the role of young people in society, South Korean lawmaker Shin Kyoung Min said, citing a briefing by his country’s intelligence service. But Pyongyang withdrew approval for the trip at the last minute without explanation.

North Korea, meanwhile, will want to discuss the resumption of South Korean tour groups to its scenic Mount Kumgang resort.

It has also come under increasing pressure over human rights, following a report published past year by a United Nations commission which concluded North Korea was committing violations “without parallel in the contemporary world”.

The spokesman for Shanghai-based Spring Airlines said he could not comment on whether the North Korean government had introduced any restrictions on the nationality or origin of tourists on the flights.

Lankov continued to say that North Korea has used this kind of re-education for less serious crimes stretching back to the late 1950s.

South Korea imposed economic sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for the 2010 sinking one of its navy ships.

The two Koreas are scheduled to hold rare talks on Thursday aimed at improving relations. Both countries signed a joint agreement agreeing on details such as who would represent their respective governments and the issues that would be on the agenda.