Koreas set up high-level dialogue after landmark deal

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North and South Korea are set for a high-level meeting next month, after marathon border talks between Seoul and Pyongyang representatives closed in the early hours of Friday morning.

The two sides had already agreed to carry out further dialogue as part of a landmark deal in August.

Following weeks of uncertainty surrounding the agreement, the plan is to bring together vice ministers from both nations on Dec. 11.

"Agendas for the high-level talks will be pending issues in connection with the improvement of inter-Korean relations," the South's unification ministry stated.

The meeting will be held at North Korea's Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is a base for more than 120 South Korean firms -- having been established in 2004, the facility is often seen as the only tangible shred of inter-Korean cooperation.

While the location may be symbolic, it also represents a setback for hopes that the talks would take place in Pyongyang or Seoul.

Recent topics of dispute have ranged from provocations related to the North's nuclear ambitions to sanctions imposed by the South -- but the neighbors have been in a state of uneasy truce since the Korean War ended in 1953.