North and South-Korea in rare talks to improve ties

Tension between the two sides reached high levels in August when two South Korean soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion.

In this photo provided by the South Korean Unification Ministry, South Korea’s chief delegate Kim Kiwoong, right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Hwang Chol during a meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015.

North Korea spokesman also slammed South Korean authorities for holding a memorial service on the fifth anniversary of the Yeonpyeong Island incident.

Choe’s story within the North Korean regime drew attention when, after the execution of Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-thaek, he was elevated as the second most powerful figure in the regime.

“My feeling is that Pyongyang is prepared to explore the possibility of good relations with the South in such areas as exchanges and even cooperation”, he said. Choe was reportedly responsible for the construction of the power station in North Korea’s northeastern Ryanggang province.

For the regime, the resort was a lucrative source of foreign currency as it struggles under United Nations sanctions.

Likely topics for the eventual agenda include South Korea’s desire for regular reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War that cemented the division of the Korean peninsula.

The two sides were yet to resume the talks after the break extended past five hours, another ministry official said by early evening, without elaborating further.

A new nuclear deal came into force Wednesday between Seoul and Washington, opening the possibility of South Korea developing its own capacity to process nuclear material for fuel. He was to be buried at the state cemetery in Seoul later Thursday. Inter-Korean ties have been frozen since the 2010 sinking of a South Korean navy ship, which killed 46 sailors. But just the day before the scheduled meeting, Pyongyang cancelled it, citing the seniority of the South Korean negotiator. “The only way that cycle is ever going to be broken is for the regime in the North to collapse”.