Two Koreas to resume talks

North and South Korean officials met for talks on Thursday, November 26, to further ease tensions after they ended an armed standoff in August, their latest attempt to revive dialogue stalled for five years, Reuters reports.

“Agenda for the high-level talks will be pending issues in connection with the improvement of inter-Korean relations”, the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.

The meeting is taking place at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.

Although any dialogue between the two Koreas is generally welcomed as a step in the right direction, precedent suggests it is still too early to hope for any significant breakthrough.

A key element of the inter-Korean deal on August 25 is to hold high-level government talks as early as possible either in Seoul or Pyongyang. However, North Korea canceled the summit a day before as it felt affronted by South Korea’s nomination of a vice minister as its chief delegate.

Negotiators from North and South Korea are due to hold talks, marking a thawing in bilateral ties.

South and North Korea have managed to keep the dialogue mood afloat but a significant deal on major pending issues will likely remain elusive, experts here said Friday.

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.

As part of an August agreement, reunions between families on either side of the border could resume, a key request of the South Korean side.

A NEW nuclear deal has come into force between Seoul and Washington, opening the possibility of South Korea developing its own capacity to process nuclear material for fuel.

In 2013, North-South talks collapsed due to a failure on both sides to agree on who should lead the delegations.

The United Nations is also understood to be in discussions with North Korea over a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – possibly before the end of the year.