South Korea proposes talks on North Korean tourism programs

Seoul - South Korea on Monday proposed talks on suspended joint tourism programs to be held in North Korea next month, officials said. The offer comes at a time of increased tensions between the two Koreas, with Pyongyang threatening the South with "holy war."

Working-level talks could be held on February 8 at Mount Kumgang and in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, the South Korean Unification Ministry said.

Pyongyang made a similar offer earlier to hold the talks. The tours, organized by South Korea's Hyundai conglomerate, have been suspended since July 2008, when a North Korean soldier shot a Southern tourist who had strayed into a restricted military zone.

North Korea warned Sunday that it regarded South Korea's threat of a military "first strike" as an "open declaration of war," the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency reported.

The warning was a reaction to comments from South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae Young that Seoul could take preemptive action if it believed its communist northern neighbor was about to launch a nuclear strike.

Last week, the Stalinist state threatened to withdraw from all talks and wage a "holy war" against the South, following reports that Seoul updated its contingency plans for a collapse of North Korea's regime.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305603,south-korea-proposes-talks-on-north-korean-tourism-programmes.html.