(Vatican Radio) Details are emerging of high-level talks expected this week between
North and South Korea. It's a major development because only two months ago the nations
seemed on a war footing.
North Korean state television said the talks will
examine reopening a joint industrial zone, restarting tourism to the North, and, the
report said, reuniting Korean families -- along with other "humanitarian issues."
It
said the North will send a "ministerial-level" delegation to South Korea for the meetings
beginning Wednesday.
South Korea's government said it hopes the talks will
build trust. They come only two months after North Korea was threatening to destroy
South Korea, at a time when it was conducting military exercises with the United States.
Since
then, North Korea is believed to have been under pressure from its ally China to abandon
its military ambitions.
And if it now wants to repair relations, there's an
anniversary ahead that could represent a deadline: next month marks 60 years since
the armistice that ended the Korean War.