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Korean PMs ready for Seoul talks | Korean PMs ready for Seoul talks |
(about 3 hours later) | |
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 is the first such meeting since 1992 and the highest-level visit by a North Korean official for 15 years. | |
The talks are expected to focus primarily on joint economic projects and a sea border dispute. | |
The meeting follows October's historic summit in Pyongyang between leaders of the two Koreas. | |
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. | |
Warming relations | Warming relations |
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. |