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2 Koreas hold high-level talks; 1st in 2 years
By KWANGTAE KIM,Associated Press Writer AP - Saturday, August 22
SEOUL, South Korea - Top South and North Korean officials in charge of inter-Korean relations held talks Saturday for the first time in nearly two years amid a series of conciliatory moves by North Korea after months of tensions on the divided peninsula.
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Unification Minister Hyun In-taek met visiting North Korean spy chief Kim Yang Gon, who also handles inter-Korean matters, ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said. She said the meeting lasted about 80 minutes, but had no further details.
The North Korean officials expressed a desire to meet President Lee Myung-bak _ whom North Korean media regularly deride as a "traitor" _ and were carrying a letter from leader Kim Jong Il, the South's Yonhap news agency reported, citing a source it did not identify.
The North Koreans came to Seoul on Friday to mourn late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who died Tuesday, and had been scheduled to return home Saturday afternoon. The return trip, however, appeared to be delayed, fueling speculation a meeting with Lee may occur.
South Korea's YTN television reported that the North Koreans had extended their stay by one day, but that Lee would not meet them on Saturday. The report did not mention the possibility of a meeting Sunday. Lee's office said it could not confirm the report.
Lee Jong-joo, a ministry spokeswoman, said the North Korean officials' itinerary was undecided, but that they would have dinner with Hyun on Saturday.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been tense since the conservative, pro-American Lee took office in February 2008. Lee vowed to take a tougher line on North Korea and tied aid to the impoverished nation to progress on its denuclearization.
The meeting between the officials Saturday was the latest indication that North Korea wants to improve relations on the peninsula after months of tensions resulting from an atomic test and test-firing of missiles as well as pulling out of nuclear negotiations.
The North released two detained U.S. reporters and a South Korean worker earlier this month, but it continues to hold four South Korean fishermen whose boat strayed into northern waters.
Pyongyang also agreed to allow the resumption of some joint North-South projects, and said it would lift restrictions on cross-border traffic and resume cargo train service across the border.
Hyun told reporters after the meeting that the two sides discussed various inter-Korean issues, but did not elaborate.
"After meeting with several people (in the South) I felt the imperative need for North-South relations to improve," Kim told Hyun during a brief photo session, Yonhap news agency reported.
The last time officials responsible for inter-Korean affairs met was for several days in late 2007 during the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
Saturday's talks came a day after Kim Yang Gon and five other senior North Koreans paid their respects to Kim Dae-jung, the former South Korean leader beloved on both sides of the border for his pursuit of closer ties between the divided states. He died Thursday at the age of 85.
The black-clad North Koreans lit incense, bowed their heads and laid a floral wreath before a large portrait of Kim at a memorial site on the grounds of the National Assembly, where the funeral will be held.
The delegation was the first Pyongyang ever sent to mourn a South Korean leader.
South Korea's Hyun expressed gratitude to the North Korean delegation for coming to mourn the late president.
The late Kim reached out to South Korea's impoverished neighbor with aid _ the main thrust of his "Sunshine Policy" that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 _ and held a landmark summit with the North Korean leader Kim in 2000.
South Koreans continued to pay their respects to the late leader at his funeral site on Saturday and special mourning facilities in Seoul and elsewhere.
A special Mass was to be held Saturday night at Seoul's landmark Myeongdong Cathedral for Kim, who was Roman Catholic. A delegation led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will represent the U.S. at the funeral, the White House said. Her term partially coincided with Kim's presidency.
Other members of the delegation include Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special envoy for North Korean policy and who served as U.S. Ambassador to Seoul during part of Kim's presidency.
Meanwhile, some 100 demonstrators chanted "topple the Kim Jong Il dictatorship" near the hotel where the North Korean officials were staying and ripped apart a paper North Korean flag. They also called for release of the four fishermen.
There was a minor scuffle between activists and police.
__
Associated Press photographer Jin-man Lee contributed to this report.
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