2 Koreas Resume High-Level Talks to Defuse Tensions

(PNA/Kyodo) — North and South Korea on Sunday resumed their high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom on ways to defuse heightened tensions in the wake of last week’s exchange of artillery shells across the inter-Korean border.

According to the South Korean Unification Ministry, the talks restarted at 3:30 p.m. after nearly 10 hours of discussions that began early Saturday evening and lasted until early Sunday morning. The talks were apparently still underway at 9 p.m. Sunday.

Kim Kwan Jin, chief of the National Security Office at the South Korean presidential office, and Unification Minister Hong Yong Pyo are meeting with Hwang Pyong So, director of the General Political Bureau of the North’s Korean People’s Army, and Kim Yang Gon, a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party. (PNA/Kyodo) JBP/RSM