SEOUL: North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold working-level talksat the Tongil Pavilion on the North Korean side of the truce village ofPanmunjom on January 15, South Korea’s unification ministry said in astatement on Saturday.
The delegation led by the unification minister Cho Myung-kyun, will be sentto hold talks on the prospects of North Korea sending its performance artgroup to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the ministry said in astatement.
Inter-Korean talks are held alternately at the Peace House, which is on theSouth Korean side of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone, and TongilPavilion in the North.
The ministry said earlier on Saturday that North Korea had proposed holdingtalks on January 15 about the matter. “In addition, the ministry alsorequested for a quick response for South Korea’s proposal on January 12 tohave working-level talks about the North’s participation in Pyongchangwinter Olympics,” added the ministry.
Officials from North and South earlier this week said they had agreed tohold negotiations to resolve problems and avert accidental conflict, aftertheir first official dialogue in more than two years amid high tension overthe North’s weapons programme.
South Korea had also said that it is seeking to form a combined women’shockey team with the North. The North Korea’s International OlympicsCommittee (IOC) official said the committee is considering the proposal,while the two sides will also have talks hosted by IOC on January 20. In ajoint statement after 11 hours of talks on Tuesday, North and South Koreasaid they had agreed to hold military to military talks and that NorthKorea would send a large delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics.
Washington welcomed as a first step to solving the North Korean nuclearweapons crisis, even though Pyongyang said those were aimed only at theUnited States and not up for discussion.