Two nations begin horsetrading topics, including reuniting relatives divided by war and tours to North's Diamond Mountain

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

North Korea has accepted South Korea's offer of talks about reuniting families separated by war, but proposed separate negotiations on resuming jointly run tours in the North, implying it wants to restart the lucrative visits in return for allowing the reunions.

Last week, the two Koreas agreed to work towards reopening a jointly run factory park in North Korea, raising hopes for improved ties.

Seoul proposed holding Red Cross this coming Friday about restarting the family reunions. A spokesman at Pyongyang's committee for the peaceful reunification of Korea said on Sunday that the North had agreed to the talks.

He proposed meeting at North Korea's scenic Diamond Mountain rather than the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom, as South Korea requested.

The spokesman said North Korea wants another set of talks on Thursday, about tourism tours of Diamond Mountain, a day before the proposed Red Cross meeting.

South Korea's unification ministry said it is reviewing the North Korean statement.

The South suspended tours to Diamond Mountain after a South Korean woman was shot dead by a North Korean border guard there in 2008. The project had provided the North with a legitimate source of currency before its suspension.

"The North Korean intention is obvious. It is saying it wants to exchange the resumption of the Diamond Mountain tours with the family reunions," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University.

Family reunions were a large inter-Korean co-operation programme formulated under a previous era of detente on the divided peninsula. About 22,000 North and South Koreans had brief family reunions before the programme ended in 2010 due to increased tensions between the countries.

Wednesday's agreement by the two countries to push to restart the jointly run Kaesong industrial park could signal a thawing in hostilities between the rivals. But there is also scepticism in South Korea about the North's intentions. North Korea threatened Seoul and Washington with nuclear war this spring, and analysts say the North often follows provocations and threats with a charm offensive meant to win aid.