North Korea, South Korea agree to high-level talks

The two countries share a border in the North’s northeastern region.

In the revised treaty, Seoul and Washington agreed to establish a high-level committee to discuss uranium enrichment for nuclear power generation, which Seoul officials described as a step toward securing potential consent for future enrichment.

Thursday’s meeting came about after the two countries reached an agreement in which Pyongyang expressed regret over landmine blasts near the border that wounded two South Korean soldiers. That conflict ended with an armistice, which means the two countries are still technically at war.

Young men have been told to model their hairstyle on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose eccentric hairdo is known in the North as the “ambitious” style, where the sides and back of the head are nearly clean shaven and only the top is left.

The drill utilized K-9 self-propelled artillery launchers despite North Korea’s warning on Sunday that it would respond “mercilessly” should the South Korean live-fire drill push through near the tense border.

Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, said, according to Yonhap News Agency: “The North will likely call on Seoul to lift its sanctions against the North and to reopen the Kumgang tour program”.

Seoul suspended tours to Mount Geumgang in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean solider. The Southwestern Front Command of North Korea, however, do not approve of this practice.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he will try to visit North Korea “at the earliest possible date” in an effort to promote peace on the Korean peninsula.

Seoul’s diplomats may believe they can move from talks in Panmunjom to discussions at the highest level of both governments, but with North Korean officials disappearing without explanation, progress seems unlikely. It is not clear if or when such a trip will occur, but if realized, his visit would help better inter-Korean ties.