South and North Korea have agreed to hold military talks on the level of generals for the first time in nearly two years and the South said they would focus on preventing naval clashes.
South and North Korea fought deadly gun battles in 1999 and 2002 near their western maritime border, where fishing boats from the two rivals operate along the poorly marked sea frontier during crab season.
Officials meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom agreed to hold talks in late February or early March in Panmunjom. The last round of high-level military talks were held in June 2004, the second such negotiations.
South Korean Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said he expected top military officers to discuss "ways to ease military tension and build confidence."
"So far inter-Korean economic cooperation has been active, but cooperation in military field didn't go hand-in-hand with it," Rhee said.
Col. Moon Seong-muk, chief South Korean delegate at Friday's meeting, said the upcoming talks will focus on finding ways to avoid accidental clashes off the peninsula's western coast and designating joint fishing areas.
The military talks have been on hold amid the North's criticism of annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
North Korea denounces the drills as a US rehearsal to attack the communist country, a charge Washington denies.
The two Koreas remain technically in a state of conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire instead of a peace treaty. But their relations have warmed significantly since an unprecedented summit of their leaders in 2000.
Inter-Korean ties have stayed warm despite an international standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions. Nuclear disarmament talks also involving China, Japan, Russia and the United States have failed to make any progress on implementing a September accord where the North agreed to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid.
Pyongyang has refused to return to the nuclear talks until the U.S. lifts recently imposed sanctions for the North's alleged illegal activity, including money laundering and counterfeiting. Washington has refused, saying the matter is unrelated to the nuclear issue
AP