Two Koreas Begin 3-day Ministerial Talks Today

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 12, 2002

Two Koreas Begin 3-day Ministerial Talks Today

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South and DPRK begin three-day ministerial talks today at the Shilla Hotel in downtown Seoul to discuss schedules for a batch of bilateral projects, on which the two sides had previously agreed but had trouble implementing.

The cabinet-level meeting, coming after a nine-month hiatus, is expected to function as a weathervane not only for future inter-Korean relations but for the North's proposed dialogues with the United States and Japan.

Seoul officials said foremost on the agenda for the talks are reconnection of cross-border railways and roads, and new rounds of temporary reunions of families separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The two Koreas are expected to agree on resuming defense ministers' talks which will address confidence-building measures between their militaries to prevent further occurrence of military conflicts on the peninsula.

If the two sides decide to open the second Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee meeting within this month, the talks will deal with establishment of a joint flood control system along the Imjin River and building an industrial park in the North's border city of Gaeseong, among other issues.

Governmental contacts between the South and North have been suspended since Pyongyang made an eleventh-hour cancellation of the economic meeting which was originally scheduled for May 7.

Observers predicted that the ministerial talks, the seventh of their kind since the historic inter-Korean summit in June 2000, will proceed well as the North has recently shown a seismic shift in pursuing engagement with the South and foreign countries.

On Friday, the North officially notified the South that it will send its athletes and cheering squad to the Busan Asian Games slated for Sept. 29 to Oct. 14 in South Korea's southern port city.

A group of 100 people from DPRK will travel to Seoul on Wednesday for a joint festival involving civic representatives of the two sides, which celebrates the 57th Liberation Day.

Source: Agencies

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