The vice minister-level dialogue, held in the Kaesong joint industrial zone on the North Korean side of the border, was the fruit of crisis talks in August to ease sky-high military tensions on the divided peninsula.
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Vice Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi is heading the South’s delegation while the North’s chief delegate is Jon Jong-su, vice director of the secretariat of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
The confrontation began when two South Korean soldiers were seriously hurt by landmine explosions along the border.
The rival Koreas held family reunions in October at a mountain resort on the North’s east coast as part of the August deal.
Pyongyang has repeatedly pressed Seoul to reopen the tour program in an apparent move to earn hard currency.
“So far we have not noticed any unusual movements or activities”, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seemed to hint on Thursday his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb. He pointed out they were ready to use A-bombs and H-bombs in order to preserve North Korea’s dignity and sovereignty.
At Thursday’s Security Council debate, the United Nations accused North Korea of widespread human-rights abuses, including forced labour, torture and mass starvation.
The totalitarian regime has also claimed to own miniaturized nuclear weapons, but despite Hwang’s statements and North Korea’s underground nuclear tests in previous years, South Korean authorities argue that there isn’t any evidence proving that the northern country has capacity for hydrogen bombs.
South Korea is expected to place priority on resolving the issue of separated families, while the North is expected focus on resuming tourism to Mount Geumgang.
A senior North Korean official has said performances by Pyongyang’s all-female propaganda band in Beijing would help improve the “traditional friendship” between the two allies.
In September, however, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) had raised a red flag over what appeared to be a new “hot cell” facility under construction at the North Korea’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Among them are North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions and the broad economic sanctions the South has imposed on the North since 2010, when the South blamed a North Korean torpedo for a warship sinking that killed 46 South Koreans.
Russia, Venezuela and Angola backed China, but the United States and eight other countries voted to go forward.
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“Gross violations continue, the institutional nature and severity of which pose a threat to global peace and security”, UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told the Security Council.
