AlQa'dah 7, 1436, Aug 22, 2015, SPA -- South Korea and North Korea on Saturday agreed to hold their first high-level talks in nearly a year at the border village of Panmunjom to defuse mounting tensions that have pushed the rivals to the brink of a possible military confrontation, AP reported. The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Seoul time (0900 GMT), would come 30 minutes after the deadline set by North Korea for South Korea to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda at their border. North Korea has declared its frontline troops are in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul doesn't back down. The South Korean presidential office said its national security director Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo will sit down with Hwang Pyong So, the top political officer for the Korean People's Army.. The meeting comes as a series of incidents, starting with the North's alleged land mine attack that maimed two South Korean soldiers and the South's resumption of anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control.
