North Korea says proposes talks with South Korea for next week

South Korean soldiers patrolling the barbed-wire fence of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, in Hwacheon on Aug 26, 2015. 

PHOTO: AFP

NOV 20, 201510:30 AM

[SEOUL] North Korea has proposed talks with South Korea to be held on Nov 26 at the truce village on their militarised border, the North's KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

The talks, if held, would be the first government-level meeting focused on easing tension since the two sides agreed to improve ties following an armed standoff in August.

A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

As part of the August agreement, the two sides held reunions last month of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean war. North and South Korea are technically still at war because the conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

REUTERS