S Korea, DPRK agree to hold working-level talks on resuming tours next week: official

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed late Tuesday to hold working-level talks with South Korea on Feb. 8 on reopening suspended cross-border tours, the government said Wednesday.

The DPRK's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee notified Seoul's Ministry of Unification a day ago of its decision to send three- member delegation from the committee to talks on resuming tours to its mountain resort and a border town, the unification ministry here said.

"We (South Korea) emphasized an authoritative official who can discuss security issues should head the North's delegation," ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters in a briefing, an apparent sign that the two sides do not see eye to eye on forming a delegation.

Chun refused to specify the name of the government department that Seoul believes should be included in the delegation, saying it is "inappropriate" to do so.

"It is the government's position that any agreement reached at the working-level meeting will be finalized by authorities in both Seoul and Pyongyang," he added.

The DPRK in early January proposed to hold talks on resuming tours to its mountain resort on the east coast and the border town of Kaesong near the east coast on Jan. 26, but the South Korean government suggested Feb. 8 as the date.

Tours to Mount Kumgang was halted in 2008 soon after a South Korean female tourist was shot to death by a North Korean sentinel, and the tour to the border town was also suspended in the same year.