North and South Korea hold rare talks aimed at improving ties

An official at the Unification Ministry, who asked for anonymity, said the two sides were reviewing differences in details of the proposed senior-level talks.

While North Korea has largely ignored global calls to curtail its weapon ambitions, the South could also point to the virtual nuclear power status afforded to Japan, its neighbor to the east and another US ally.

Officials from North and South Korea are meeting for rare talks aimed at improving long-strained ties, after a military stand-off in August.

His North Korean counterpart is Hwang Chol, a director of the secretariat at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

The resumption of talks was a key part of the August 25 agreement that reduced military tensions over North Korea’s alleged land mine attacks on South Korean soldiers.

According to Prothom Alo on Sunday, South Korea has been conducting live-fire drills near the Yellow Sea border on the anniversaries of the 2010 shelling as a display of the nation’s strength.

The exchange of fire lasted more than an hour, with the two sides trading more than 200 shells and sparking brief fears of a full-fledged war.

Agenda items for inter-Korean talks are also sensitive because Seoul typically prioritizes humanitarian issues, while Pyongyang is more interested in economic and security matters. Providing those resources, Jung said, could send the right message to North Koreans about South Korea. South Korea wants the North to agree to regular family reunions between the 66,000 surviving people separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Who will lead each side’s delegation is another issue Seoul and Pyongyang may disagree on. In June 2013, the two Koreas planned to hold a ministerial-level dialogue, but it failed to be held after wrangling over the rank.

Choe Ryong Hae, secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, has been banished to a farm in the countryside at the beginning of this month, a legislator told reporters, citing information the National Intelligence Service (NIS) provided in a parliamentary briefing Tuesday.