North Korean envoys arrived in South Korea today for ministerial talks, ending a long hiatus in efforts at reconciling the capitalist South and the communist North after more than 50 years of enmity.
A 27-member North Korean delegation led by Kim Ryong-song, a senior cabinet counsellor, pledged to work for rapprochement at the talks beginning tomorrow, the first since Pyongyang broke off contacts with the South in March.
The Northern delegation will work with sincerity and industry to produce great results at these meetings that will delight the whole nation of 70 million and we hope for the positive cooperation of the South, the delegation said in an arrival statement at Incheon Airport near Seoul.
Kim Ryong-song called Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States a great tragedy that was shocking and regrettable .
But he said they should not affect talks between the two Koreas, which are still technically at war after the Korean War half a century ago ended without a formal peace treaty.
Seoul hopes the two sides can revive agreements reached at a summit last year between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that raised hopes for peace on the divided peninsula.
The agenda of the September 15-18 talks includes efforts to restore severed rail and road links between the Koreas, build an industrial park in North Korea and promote reunions among families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.