



The discussions in the border truce village of Panmunjom had no fixed agenda but were to cover a range of “major” issues including the planned 20-25 February reunion event, the South’s unification ministry said.

The South’s delegation was led by top national security official Kim Kyou-hyun, who said Seoul’s focus was on ensuring the meeting of separated families could go ahead as scheduled. The North side was expected to make another push for South Korea to cancel annual military exercises with the United States that are scheduled to begin on 24 February.

Kim said he was entering the talks with “an open attitude to explore the chance of opening a new chapter on the Korean peninsula”. He did not mention whether North Korea’s nuclear programme would be discussed.

It was the first such high-level sit-down between the two sides since 2007 and came a day before the arrival in Seoul of the US secretary of state, John Kerry, for a brief visit focused on North Korea.

The North wants to resume talks with Seoul and Washington on nuclear matters but they have replied that Pyongyang must first make a tangible commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons.

According to Seoul the Panmunjom meeting was requested by Pyongyang, which sent a delegation headed by Wong Ton-yong, deputy head of a ruling party organisation that handles inter-Korean ties.

North Korean state media made no mention of the talks, which were held on the south side of the border village where the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean conflict 60 years ago was signed.

Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korean expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Pyongyang was keen to make a public display of its diplomatic credentials. “It wants to demonstrate a willingness to improve ties with the South in order to obtain concessions from Seoul and others,” said Kim, who warned it was premature to expect any major breakthrough.

The North is also likely to push for a resumption of regular South Korea tours to its Mount Kumgang resort. The South suspended the tours after a tourist was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers in 2008, and Pyongyang is keen to see the return of what was a lucrative source of hard currency.

The success of the upcoming family reunion event would be key to Seoul considering starting up the tours again. “If the first step goes well it can move to the next level, expanding the scope of inter-Korean co-operation at a faster speed,” said the South’s unification minister, Ryoo Kihl-jae.

There are fears the North might cancel the reunions in protest at South Korea and the United States going ahead with their joint military exercises. Pyongyang views the drills as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly demanded Seoul call them off, warning at one point of an “unimaginable holocaust” if they went ahead.

Last year’s exercises fuelled an unusually sharp and protracted surge in military tensions, with Pyongyang threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and nuclear-capable US stealth bombers making dummy runs over the Korean peninsula.

Seoul and Washington have made it clear there is no question of this year’s drills being cancelled but US officials have indicated they will be toned down, with no aircraft carrier and no strategic bombers.





Substantive dialogue between the two sides mostly dried up under Park’s presidential predecessor, Lee Myung-Bak, who took a tough line with Pyongyang.

