TEMPO.CO, Panmunjom - North and South Korea started their highest-level government dialogue yesterday. This was the first high level dialogue to be held since 2007.
There are no specific agendas in the dialogue. But reunions of older Koreans who would be allowed to meet their relatives for the first time since the three-year Korean War this month would be one of the main issue. The talks were held one day before the arrival of United States' State Secretary John Kerry in Seoul.
The head of the South Korean delegation is Deputy Director of National Security Kim Kyou-hyun, while the North Korean is being represented by Won Tong-yon, a deputy minister on the two Koreas relation. "We approach today's talks with an intention of probing for opportunities to open a new relationship on the Korean Peninsula," said Kyu-hyun in Seoul before leaving for Panmunjom.
Mr. Kim, who holds the rank of a vice cabinet minister and is a deputy director at the national security office at the presidential Blue House, is the most senior South Korean to meet North Korean officials since Park Geun-hye was sworn in as South Korean president last February.
He said that he would focus on reaffirming the agreement on family reunions in Geumgang Mountains on February 20-25. The agreement to reunite the families which was signed last week was threatened to be cancelled, blaming the annual joint military exercises with the United States that the South was scheduled to start on February until April.
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