2 Koreas to Resume Talks on Nuclear Issue

North Korea agreed Wednesday to return to the negotiating table Monday at the border village of Panmunjom to discuss mutual nuclear inspections, a South Korean government official said.

The two Koreas had appeared to be progressing cautiously toward some form of detente last year only to see the relationship unravel over the contentious question of mutual inspections of nuclear intallations. Seoul and its allies fear that Pyongyang is close to building a nuclear bomb, a charge the north denies.