A North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul Sunday for talks on promoting economic cooperation between the two Koreas.
The three-member North Korean delegation was led by Jong Un-Op, chairman of the National Economic Cooperation Federation.
The two-day economic talks on Monday and Tuesday in Seoul coincide with the first ever meeting of South and North Korean defense ministers on the southern island of Cheju.
"We hope inter-Korean economic cooperation will be expanded with this meeting," Jong said in a statement upon arrival at Kimpo airport in Seoul.
Assistant Finance and Economy Minister Lee Keun-Kyung will head the South's team.
Lee's office said the two sides would discuss what was needed to push forward with inter-Korean economic exchanges, such as pacts on investment guarantees, settling disputes and the avoidance of double taxation.
The leaders of the two Koreas signed a reconciliation accord during their landmark summit in June to promote economic, cultural, military and sports exchanges.
But South Korean businesses said the two sides, still technically at war, needed a legal system to protect investments.
"The Seoul meeting is very significant," the South's finance and economic ministry said in a statement.
Inter-Korean trade amounted to 333 million dollars last year, with South Korea exporting 212 million dollars worth of goods mostly through third countries.
At the end of July, South Korea's investments in the communist state stood at 15.4 million dollars.
The inter-Korean rapprochement, launched by the June summit, will create a new era of economic cooperation between the two Koreas.
In August, South Korea's leading Hyundai Group announced an ambitious project to build a giant industrial and tourism complex along the North's southwest coast.
Hyundai, which already runs a tourism complex on the North's east coast, hopes to follow a Chinese model for special economic zones for its new project in Kaesong near the border between the two Koreas -- SEOUL (AFP)
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