The rival Koreas are expected to finish talks today about resuming reunions of families torn apart by the Korean War, as the isolated North reaches out to its foes after being hit by UN sanctions.
The neighbouring countries are near a deal to resume reunions from late September for about 100 families from both sides of the border to be held at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, which is run by an affiliate of the South's Hyundai Group, officials said.
They have not yet reached an agreement for the exact dates of the highly emotionally meeting of families who left siblings, parents and relatives on the other side of the divided peninsula when the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a ceasefire.
The South has also been pressing the North to account for more than 1,000 of its citizens who were either abducted by the communist state or were prisoners-of-war who were not allowed to return after the fighting ended.
North Korea suspended the reunions in anger at the policies of the South's President Lee Myung-bak, who took office about 18 months ago. Mr Lee cut off unconditional aid and told Pyongyang that funds would only resume when it ended its nuclear arms programme.
However, the North this month ended its boycott of the Lee government by sending a delegation to the South for its first contact since he took office, while its official media has suspended the torrent of insults that had been directed at Lee for months.
In another move to defrost ties with a traditional adversary, North Korea sent a delegation to the United States last week to discuss resuming non-governmental food aid to the impoverished communist state that battles chronic shortages, the South's Yonhap news agency quoted informed sources as saying.
Analysts said the conciliatory moves made by the North this month may be to bolster its coffers after UN sanctions imposed for its nuclear test in May made it more difficult to trade arms, cutting into a key source of cash that estimates say could be worth about 6 percent of its $17 billion a year economy.
North Korea also released two US journalists it had held since March when former US president Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang in August and met leader Kim Jong-il.
Reuters