South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed Tuesday to hold working-level talks on Dec. 11-13 in Seoul to discuss ways to enhance inter-Korean economic cooperation, the Ministry of Unification of South Korea was quoted by national news agency Yonhap News as saying Tuesday.
Park Chang Ryon, chief of the DPRK's Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee, notified South Korea of its agreement to Seoul's proposal for inter-Korean talks via a telephone message at the truce village of Panmunjom on Tuesday, said the ministry.
In December 2000, the South Korea and the DPRK reached initial accords on protecting investment in the DPRK, eliminating double taxation, arbitration of commercial disputes and clearance of debts.
However, the two sides have yet to ratify the four accords.
Simultaneously, the two countries on Tuesday agreed to have three-days working-level talks Friday at Mount Geumgang in the DPRK on implementing a project to establish an industrial complex in Kaesong, a DPRK city just north of the truce village of Panmunjom.
The DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly issued a decree on Nov. 13 to designate Kaesong as a special economic zone. And the two sidesplanned to kick off the first stage of the development of the Kaesong industrial zone within this year.
(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2002)
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