S.Korea proposes high-level dialogue with DPRK on Jan. 9
South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon speaks during a press conference at a government complex in Seoul on January 2, 2018.
South Korea on Tuesday offered to hold a high-level dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Jan. 9 in the truce village of Panmunjom.
"The government proposes (to the DPRK) holding a senior-level inter-governmental dialogue of the South and the North (Koreas) on Jan. 9 at Peace House in Panmunjom," South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a press conference.
The Peace House is a building in Panmunjom controlled by South Korea.
The dialogue overture came a day after top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year speech that Pyongyang was willing to take necessary measures, including dispatch of a DPRK delegation to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics, and to discuss with Seoul about it.
Cho anticipated that the two Koreas would frankly discuss issues of mutual concern to improve inter-Korean relations as well as the issue on the DPRK's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in South Korea's eastern county of PyeongChang in February .
The minister said communication channels between the two Koreas in Panmunjom should be restored immediately to hold the inter-Korean, inter-governmental talks, suggesting to discuss details on the Jan. 9 dialogue, such as setting agenda and forming delegations through the restored communication channels.
All of inter-Korean communication channels have been severed since the previous South Korean government under impeached President Park Geun-hye decided unilaterally to close down the Kaesong Industrial Complex in response to the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in January 2016.
If realized, the talks would mark the first inter-Korean dialogue since the Moon Jae-in government was sworn in last May. The last inter-Korean dialogue was held in December 2015 for a vice ministerial-level meeting.
