Koreas to Restart Stalled Dialogue

North and South Korea agreed today to restart high-level talks next week, getting their stalled reconciliation process back on track, a joint statement said.

The agreement, reached at a three-day meeting at North Korea’s Diamond Mountain resort, called for the two sides to hold Cabinet-level talks in Seoul, the South’s capital, Aug. 12-14, the statement said.

Next week’s talks, the seventh such meeting since 2000, will focus on reunions of families separated since the Korean War, a plan to reconnect a cross-border rail line and joint economic projects in the impoverished North, the statement said. In addition, North Korea agreed to participate in the 14th Asian Games to be held in Busan, South Korea, in September.