North and South Korea resume talks after talks to merge

South Korean authorities and the government of the DPRK agreed to resume formal negotiations. AFP reports that talks are planned “at the highest level.”TASS referring to the South Korean agency Yonhap – that we are talking about talks “high level”. The news came a few days after the head of the Foreign Ministry of North Korea proposed to merge the two countries in the form of a confederation . And later, the country’s permanent representative to the UN, in a rare interview with Western reporters said that the country is ready to resume talks on the nuclear issue. The official agenda of the talks were not disclosed.

On Saturday, at the close of the Asian Games in Incheon arrived high-level delegation from North Korea. Such a visit in itself a rarity, but observers have drawn particular attention to the level of representation: a delegation headed by senior assistants of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the Workers’ Party secretaries.

Agreement to resume talks, apparently, was the result of the first public contact senior officials of the North and the South.

According to the South Korean agency, the parties intend to negotiate in the coming weeks. The agenda is not specified.

According to Yonhap , the DPRK delegation voiced a request to take only the day before. The South Korean Ministry of Unification (concerned with the interaction with North Korea) emphasized that officially refrained from assessments of why North Korea sent as high-level delegation in Incheon.However, the agency has expressed hope that the visit will contribute to the improvement of bilateral relations.

The delegation was led by the North Korean senior assistants North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee Hwang Pen Co, as well as the secretaries of the Workers’ Party Ren Ho Choi and Kim Yang Gon. Radio KBS reported that representatives of the North wanted to meet South Korean President Park Keun Hye, but “because of their concise program,” it was impossible.

September 28 DPRK Foreign Minister Lee Soo-young, speaking at the general debate of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, said that North Korea offers to reunite the two according to the formula of confederation, which implies the coexistence of two state system in one country. “North Korea insists that reunification should be achieved not through confrontation of different (political) systems, but according to the formula of confederation, which implies the coexistence of the two systems in the country. This is the only way to prevent war and ensure peace,” – said the head of the Foreign Ministry.

As recalled by RIA “Novosti” , the Korean peninsula technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with the signing of the armistice, not a peace treaty. Relations between the DPRK and South Korea deteriorated sharply in 2010 after the March of that year in the Yellow Sea sank the corvette “Cheonan” sunk, as claimed in Seoul, North Korean torpedo.

The first in January 2014 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a New Year address to the nation called for improved relations with South Korea. The leader of North Korea for a month did not appear in public. Such a long absence of the third representative of the Kim dynasty gave rise to rumors about his health. On the eve of a former senior official of the DPRK said that Eun no longer running the country .