Kwon Jun-wook, a senior health and welfare ministry official, will head a South Korean delegation to the talks. His North Korean counterpart will be Kim Yun-chol, an official of the North's health ministry.

During the meeting, the two sides are expected to exchange influenza-related information and share data on infectious diseases that could affect their countries next year, the ministry said.

The ministry also said that the two Koreas will finalize a cooperation project to unearth historic relics in the Manwoldae site in Kaesong on Monday and resume the work in February next year.

The two Koreas have conducted joint excavation work at the site, where the palace of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) used to be located. Some 10 South Koreans have been working with 50-60 North Korean people on the excavation project, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry denied a media report that North Korea is surreptitiously operating the shuttered Kaesong industrial park.

Operations at the park, known as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation and successful cross-border economic cooperation, came to a halt in 2016 following the North's fourth nuclear weapons test and long-range missile provocations.

"No such signs (of operations) have been detected or confirmed," the ministry said.

The leaders of the two Koreas agreed in their September summit to "normalize" the operation of the industrial park as soon as conditions are met. (Yonhap)