North and South Korea are working on terms for working level talks after months of chill, rhetoric, nuclear and missile tests and threats. Those talks may be held as soon as Sunday. The last working level talks occured in February of 2011.
North Korea called the South on Friday using the Red Cross curcuit that connects sections of the truce village of Panmunjom. South Korea replied just hours later and agreed to talks on Sunday but preferred to have the talks there in that village rather than in the North Korean city of Kaesong as proposed by the North.
The initial offer of talks came from the North on Thursday.
During the phonecall today, South Korea offered quickly offered to hold Ministerial talks as well on June 12th. Those talks were refused by the North however, with the North wanting working level talks first “in the light of the prevailing situation in which relations have been suspended for many years and mistrust has reached the extreme.” The last ministerial talks were held in 2007.
The talks on Sunday will no doubt be negotiations for the re-opening of of the Kaesong factory zone as well as the resort complex at Mount Keumgang.
The military hot-line between the two countries remains down.