Divided Koreas meeting in high-level talks

SEOUL: A ROK delegation departed yesterday for the first high-level talks with the DPRK in seven months.

The resumed Cabinet-level meetings the highest channel of dialogue between the Koreas are the first concrete sign of eased tensions on the divided peninsula since Pyongyang's February 13 agreement at international arms talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days.

The high-level talks were last held in July, when the South refused to continue aid to the North after it test-fired a series of missiles. The countries' relations further soured after the North tested a nuclear weapon in October.