(2nd LD) S. Korea informs N.K. of its delegation list for high-level talks

All News 15:55 May 29, 2018

(ATTN: ADDS more info in para 4)

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Tuesday sent to North Korea the list of its delegates for this week's high-level talks, Seoul's unification ministry said.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the five-member delegation for the talks to be held Friday. The group also includes Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol and Vice Culture Minster Roh Tae-kang.

During Saturday's inter-Korean summit, President Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un agreed to hold the talks, which Pyongyang suspended on May 16, taking issue with the annual regular air drills conducted by Seoul and Washington.

Before the talks were canceled, Pyongyang had named Ri Son-kwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, as its delegation chief. Also in the group were Vice Railroad Minister Kim Yun-hyok and Vice Sports Minister Won Kil-u.

At the forthcoming talks, the two sides plan to discuss ways to enforce the joint declaration, which the two leaders adopted at their first summit on April 27 at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

"We plan to have consultations with the North over ways to promptly and systematically implement the Panmunjom Declaration through the upcoming meeting," a government official said, declining to be named.

Under the landmark declaration, Moon and Kim agreed to reduce military tensions, enhance cooperation, and seek a peace treaty and "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula.

The resumption of the high-level talks is expected to lead to other talks, including those over the proposed reunions of families separated since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.