New York - Talks opened here yesterday aimed at paving the way to a permanent peace on the heavily armed Korean peninsula following a hopeful gesture from Pyongyang.
As diplomats from North and South Korea, China, and the US prepared to meet, a surprise statement from Pyongyang indicated it was ready to abide by the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.
Deputy foreign ministers from the four parties arrived at Columbia University yesterday morning and began talks some 20 minutes later after having coffee together. South Korea said it would propose that formal peace talks take place at the ministerial level in one of the four countries.