S Korea, DPRK start talks on resuming cross-border tours

SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea (DPRK) started Monday working-level talks on resuming cross-border tours, officials said.

Kim Nam-sik (C), head of a South Korean delegation, answers reporters' questions as he leaves the CIQ (customs, immigration and quarantine) office, just south of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul February 8, 2010. A South Korean delegation left to North Korea's Kaesong on Monday for talks to resume inter-Korean tourism to Kaesong and Mt. Kumgang, both in North Korea, which has been suspended for almost one year and a half.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The South Korean delegation crossed the heavily fortified border earlier Monday for the bilateral talks that started at 10 a. m. local time (0100GMT).

The two sides are expected to discuss drawing up safety measures for tourists and launching a thorough investigation into a fatal shooting incident that killed a South Korean female tourist in 2008.

The head of the South Korean delegation, before crossing the border, did not reveal details of Seoul's demands at the meeting.

Seen as a peaceful gesture, the DPRK in early January proposed talks on reopening tours to its mountain resort and the historic border town of Kaesong on the east coast, halted soon after the shooting incident.

The inter-Korean ties has been tense since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in earlier 2008 with a hard- line approach to the DPRK.

Seoul has since called on Pyongyang to allow a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of the incident at the resort and draw up measures to prevent recurrences, while saying that the DPRk's acceptance of its demands would not automatically lead to the resumption of the tours.