- Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Korean delegation leave for talks with North Korea
- Date: 9th June 2013
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 9, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF OFFICE BUILDING OF THE SOUTH-NORTH DIALOGUE SIGN READING: "OFFICE OF THE SOUTH-NORTH DIALOGUE" SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS WALKING INTO MEETING ROOM SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS AT MEETING ROOM SOUTH KOREAN SENIOR UNIFICATION MINISTRY OFFICIAL CHUN HAE-SUNG, HEAD OF DELEGATION FOR WORKING-LEVEL TALKS, AT MEETING MEETING IN PROGRESS CHUN MORE OF MEETING SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS WALKING OUT BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN SENIOR UNIFICATION MINISTRY OFFICIAL CHUN HAE-SUNG SAYING: "At today's working-level talk, we will discuss administrative and technical tasks so we can hold a successful South-North ministerial-level talk on June 12 in Seoul." SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN SENIOR UNIFICATION MINISTRY OFFICIAL CHUN HAE-SUNG SAYING: "We will have a negotiation based upon the spirit of the Trust Building policy which aims to build trust and develop relationships between the South and North Korea step by step. We will do our best." SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS LEAVING SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS GETTING ON BUS BUS LEAVING PAJU, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 9, 2013) (REUTERS) BUS DRIVING NEAR THE UNIFICATION BRIDGE AT THE BORDER AREA VARIOUS OF BUS CROSSING THE UNIFICATION BRIDGE
- Embargoed: 24th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Korea, Republic of
- City:
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC1PDPD5RFYSGSMIU8ODNU2AG1
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: South Korean officials on Sunday (June 9) left for working-level talks with their North Korean counterparts at the truce village Panmunjom.
These are the first official talks between the rivals in more than two years.
Three South Korean delegations led by Chun Hae-sung, a South Korean senior unification ministry official, will attend a meeting at the Freedom House, an administrative building in the southern side of the joint security area at Panmunjom.
North Korea said a three-member delegation led by Kim Sung-hye, a senior official at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, would attend the meeting, South Korea's unificiation ministry said.
Chun said the talks are in preparation for the ministerial-level meeting in Seoul on June 12.
"At today's working-level talk, we will discuss administrative and technical tasks so we can hold a successful South-North ministerial-level talk on June 12 in Seoul," South Korean delegation Chun Hae-sung said at a news conference before his departure.
"We will have a negotiation based upon the spirit of the Trust Building policy which aims to build trust and develop relationships between the South and North Korea step by step. We will do our best," Chun added.
North Korea reopened a Red Cross hotline with South Korea on Friday (June 7) and invited officials from Seoul to talks over the weekend, a further sign the North wants to improve ties after a barrage of threats to wage war this year.
The two Koreas have not held talks since February 2011.
South Korea has proposed cabinet level talks on June 12 in Seoul to discuss a range of issues including commercial projects and families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Tension escalated on the peninsula after the United Nations imposed new sanctions on North Korea for its Feb. 12 nuclear test, the country's third. North Korea also said two months of joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that ended in late April were a prelude to an invasion. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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