South Korea says it has in principle accepted a North Korean offer to resume talks on humanitarian issues.
These include the reuniting of families divided since the Korean war ended in 1953, and joint tourism and industrial projects.
South Korea’s unification ministry said a date and venue for talks mediated by the Red Cross would be set after resumed military talks had ended.
The military meetings, which began on Tuesday, are continuing.
They are the first since the North shelled a South Korean island in November, killing four people.
The last in the intermittent programme of temporary family reunions took place shortly before the shelling.
Family reunion talks were last held in 2009 after a two-year hiatus caused by cross-border tensions.
“We conveyed our agreement to hold the Red Cross talks, as it is important for the North and the South to discuss and resolve such issues of humanitarian concerns,” said a spokeswoman for South Korea’s unification ministry, Lee Jong-joo.
North Korea had proposed that the Red Cross agencies from the two sides meet to discuss two projects that give the North much-needed foreign exchange.
Wide-ranging
The suspended joint tourism project at Mt Kumgang and the Kaesong industrial complex are both in North Korea, co-managed by South Koreans using workers from the North.
Meanwhile, the talks between military officials from North and South Korea, at the border village of Panmunjom, are continuing, with the hope of laying the groundwork for higher-level meetings.
Relations have been extremely tense since 46 South Koreans died when their warship was sunk last March.
Seoul blamed the North for the incident, something Pyongyang denies.
The South is wary of a talks process that wins aid for Kim Jong-il’s administration in the North without concessions in return.
South Korea says the North must show “sincerity” before receiving economic assistance. Pyongyang has spoken instead of an “exchange of views”.
