Koreas Hold Working-Level Dialogue

South and North Korea are said to be open to upgrading the level of their representation in the event mutual disagreements are not resolved at the upcoming vice-ministerial meeting next month.

 Officials are meeting on the North’s side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the De-Militarised Zone of the heavily-fortified border with the South.

The two sides are expected to discuss details of the high-level talks, including the timing and the agenda, officials said.

“Agendas for the high-level talks will be pending issues in connection with the improvement of inter-Korean relations”, the South’s unification ministry stated.

In June 2013, the two sides agreed to hold what would have been the first high-level dialogue for six years.

The two countries threatened war against each other last summer over land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers.

The tour has been put on hold since 2008, following the death of a South Korean female tourist by a North Korean solider at the scenic resort.

As part of the deal, the two Koreas held reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in late October.

“If the South Korean military fires at the waters of the (North)…on Monday, they will experience merciless retaliation of the Southwestern Front units…on the five (border) islands, “warned the North through the state-run Korean Central News Agency”.

The US restricts such activities because the same technologies could be used to produce nuclear weapons and fears that supporting South Korea’s enrichment ambitions might send the wrong signal to North Korea, which is developing its own nuclear weapons programme. But just the day before the scheduled meeting, Pyongyang cancelled it, citing the seniority of the South Korean negotiator.

The two Koreas have held two summits in the past, one in 2000 and the second in 2007.

The United Nations is also understood to be in discussions with North Korea over a visit by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that could take place before the end of 2015.