Inter-Korean Talks to Resume on February 27

The 20th Inter-Korean Ministerial Talks will be held in Pyongyang from February 15 until March 2, 2007.

The high-level inter-Korean talks have been suspended for seven months since North Korea’s missile tests last July.

In a separate move, North Korea and the United States have agreed to hold working-level talks in March to normalize bilateral ties.

Representatives of the two Koreas who met in the North’s border city of Gaesong on Thursday agreed upon the resumption of the cabinet-level dialogue. “We have confirmed the willingness to develop inter-Korean relations by both parties based on the spirit of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration,” the joint statement reads.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, 63, who was sworn in last December, and senior North Korean Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho Ung are expected to be appointed as the chief negotiators of the inter-Korean talks. Although it is the first time for Lee to participate in ministerial talks, Kwon has been leading the delegation since the 14th Inter-Korean Ministerial Talks in 2004.

The four-day ministerial negotiations are expected to deal with a range of issues, including humanitarian issues like the resumption of the South’s rice and fertilizer aid to North and the reunion of separated family members.

Among other issues are test operations for cross-border railways, cooperation in developing light industries and natural resources and holding inter-Korean military talks, and an economic cooperation promotion committee meeting.

“Let us not be swayed by the diplomatic environment surrounding us and move on the path of reconciliation between Koreans to bring about unification,” a representative of the North said at the beginning of the general meeting held on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, North Korea and the U.S. agreed at the six-party talks held in Beijing Tuesday that they will convene working-level talks in New York in early March. The North`s Vice-Foreign Minister, Kim Kye Kwan, and Christopher Hill, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, are expectedly to be assigned as the chief negotiators of the bilateral talks, according to sources.

The agenda of the talks will include removing North Korea from the U.S.’s list of terrorism-sponsoring countries, unfreezing the North’s assets in the U.S. and lifting financial sanctions imposed on the North, according to sources.

taewon_ha@donga.com