North and South Korea have agreed to hold military talks to discuss
unsettled issues, including improving military hotlines between the two
nations.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement
Saturday the talks will be held Monday morning on the west coast near
the border city of Paju.
The North proposed Friday that officer-level talks be held about improving telecommunications lines between the two sides.
South
Korea's Yonhap news agency says the two countries have nine military
hotlines, but one is currently out of service because of technical
problems.
The meeting will be the second this month. All other
contacts between the two Koreas have been essentially frozen for most
of the year.
When military officers met briefly earlier this
month, North Korean officials demanded that the South stop civic groups
from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border by balloon.
Those were the first formal talks between the two countries since
January.
Relations between North and South Korea have been tense
since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in
February. Mr. Lee promised to take a tougher stance with the North.
Tensions
were further aggravated by the July shooting death of a South Korean
tourist by North Korean soldiers at a mountain resort.
North
and South Korea have been technically in a state of war since their
three-year conflict ended with a truce, and not a peace deal, in 1953.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
