North Korea has agreed to meet Sunday for talks that will focus on reopening its shared industrial complex with South Korea and other issues, the latter's national news agency reported Saturday. Pyongyang on Friday reconnected a hotline between the two sides that it had severed amid recent tensions. North Korea said that "the venue of the talks and the date for their opening can be set to the convenience of the south side." South Korea reacted quickly and positively to the offer, noting that it had been "continuously" seeking talks on Kaesong since the North shut it down. The South's unification minister, Ryoo Kihl-jae, suggested the two sides hold ministerial-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday. The North expressed appreciation for the South's response Friday, and said "working contact" between the two governments is necessary before ministerial talks. It proposed that the lower-level meeting take place in Kaesong on Sunday. It also reopened the Red Cross hotline in the border area of Panmunjom, an important line of communication between the two sides that it had cut off as tensions flared earlier this year. The South Korean Unification Ministry said later Friday that it had sent a fax through the hotline agreeing to the working-level talks but asking that they take place in Panmunjom rather than Kaesong. The working-level talks will be held at Panmunjom on Sunday, South Korea's national news agency, Yonhap reported.
