Seoul (AsiaNews) - After a stalemate of four months, the governments of the two Koreas agreed to hold bilateral talks in the Demilitarized Zone next week. All relations were frozen by Seoul in August 2015, following the explosion of an anti-personnel mine in the southern part of the border that wounded two South Korean soldiers.
Pyongyang denied the border infringement and rejected any responsibility for the accident. In retaliation, Seoul resumed propaganda activities on the border through huge loudspeakers placed near the Demilitarized Zone and as a result the Stalinist regime stepped up its military activities.
To avoid precipitating the situation, the two governments held "emergency" talks in September 2015 in which the South agreed to turn off the megaphones in exchange for a relaxation of the threats of war from the North. During the September meetings the two Koreas also agreed to resume family reunions, after more than a year.
The meetings scheduled for November 26 will be held in the "peace village" of Panmunjom. An official at the South Korean Ministry of Unification said: "It is a relief that they have accepted our offer of dialogue." The agenda is not clear, but normally preliminary talks are used to discuss technical preparations for another meeting on a ministerial level, within a month.
Meanwhile, North Korea is slated to host a visit from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the coming days. The last visit by the international leader was canceled a day before his arrival. If it goes ahead it will be the first by a UN secretary in over 20 years.