The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Park to convene security ministers' meeting on Monday

By 신현희

Published : June 9, 2013 - 20:43

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President Park Geun-hye will hold a meeting with foreign affairs and security-related ministers on Monday, an official said, a day after officials from the two Koreas opened their first government-level talks in two years at a border village of Panmunjom.

It will be the third time that Park has held such a meeting since she took office in February.

The inter-Korean meeting in Panmunjom on Sunday was aimed at paving the way for Seoul and Pyongyang to hold ministerial-level talks on Wednesday.

The Sunday meeting was largely focused on reopening the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong. North Korea has banned South Korean managers from entering the factory park since April, when tensions spiked following the communist country's third nuclear test and U.N. sanctions.

"Our basic stance is that we are closely watching the meeting in a prudent and calm manner," the senior official at Seoul's presidential office told Yonhap News Agency by telephone, referring to the Sunday meeting with North Korean officials.

The North's surprise overture for dialogue came a day before U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first summit in California. (Yonhap News)