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Korean PMs ready for Seoul talks Korean PMs ready for Seoul talks
(about 3 hours later)
North Korea Prime Minister Kim Yong-il has arrived in Seoul for three days of talks with his South Korea counterpart. North Korean Prime Minister Kim Yong-il has arrived in the South Korean capital, Seoul, for three days of talks with counterpart Han Duck-soo.
It will be the first time the two countries' prime ministers have met since 1992. It is the first such meeting since 1992 and the highest-level visit by a North Korean official for 15 years.
The talks follow last month's historic summit between North Korean President Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun. The talks are expected to focus primarily on joint economic projects and a sea border dispute.
The discussions are expected to cover economic co-operation and the reunion of families separated by partition. The meeting follows October's historic summit in Pyongyang between leaders of the two Koreas.
The presidential summit in October was only the second time that the leaders of the two countries had met since the Korean peninsula was partitioned over half a century ago. The summit, between the North's Kim Jong-il and the South's Roh Moo-Hyun, was only the second such meeting since the Korean peninsula was partitioned over half a century ago.
The presidents signed an accord calling for greater peace and economic partnership between the two countries.
Warming relationsWarming relations
The prime ministers - Kim Yong-il of North Korea and Han Duck-soo of South Korea - will now use their meeting to discuss more specific proposals, such as a joint economic area on North Korea's southwestern coast and a shared fishing zone off the pensinsula's west coast. At the summit, the two presidents signed an accord calling for greater peace and economic partnership between the two countries, which remain technically at war.
The prime ministers will now use their meeting to discuss more specific proposals.
One key issue is the establishment of a joint fishing area around the disputed western sea border - the scene of naval clashes in the past - and a new economic zone around the North Korean port of Haeju.
Other matters include management of a joint industrial zone in the border city of Kaesong and increasing the number of reunion meetings for separated families.
Prime ministerial meetings between the two Koreas were suspended in 1992 amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
But in February, North Korea agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for aid. It is currently in the process of disabling its main reactor at Yongbyon.
The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Seoul says the meeting between the prime ministers is another sign of warming relations between North and South Korea.The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Seoul says the meeting between the prime ministers is another sign of warming relations between North and South Korea.
But he says the mood could change in December if the South Korean presidential election is won by conservative Lee Myung-Bak, who has pledged to take a tougher line against North Korea.But he says the mood could change in December if the South Korean presidential election is won by conservative Lee Myung-Bak, who has pledged to take a tougher line against North Korea.