남북고위급회담 이번주 금요일 개최... 의제와 참석인원은?
A meeting between the two Koreas called off by the North earlier this month... has been rescheduled for this Friday.
Previously, Seoul was going to send its unification minister, and North Korea an official of similar rank.
It's possible that they'll talk about setting up railway links and other projects.
Oh Jung-hee takes a look at the possible agenda of the talks and the delegates.
A month has passed since April's inter-Korean summit... and the first round of high-level talks between the two Koreas will finally take place on Friday.
The objective -- to discuss measures to implement the summit agreement... called the Panmunjom Declaration.
The talks were originally scheduled to take place a couple of weeks ago... and each of Seoul and Pyongyang's delegations were finalized before the talks were abruptly called off by North Korea.
It remains to be seen whether major changes will be made to the list of delegates... but it's widely thought they'll be similar.. if not the same.
The delegations were to meet at the Peace House, on the South Korean side of the border village of Panmunjom.
Prior to the cancellation, North Korea said it was sending a five-member delegation led by Ri Son-kwon ,... the head of the North's inter-Korean affairs committee... while South Korea also had a five-member delegation... led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon .
Ministers in charge of railways and sports were included from the North Korean side,... while Seoul also had vice-ministers of land and culture.
So attention falls on whether these delegates will stay... for possible discussions on connecting railways between the two Koreas... and forming joint teams for upcoming international sports events.
Forestation projects in North Korea could also be discussed as South Korea originally included the Vice Minister of the Forest Service in its delegation.
Meanwhile, Seoul and Pyongyang are expected to try and set dates for inter-Korean military and Red Cross talks... as well as establish dialogue channels for each.
Holding joint events on major dates shared by the two Koreas is likely to be discussed as well.
Coming right up is June 15th, the date on which South and North Korea issued their first joint statement in 2000.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
