North and South Korea on Saturday agreed to launch a bilateral committee designed to push inter-Korean economic cooperation, including the supply of electric power to the North.
"The North and South agreed to launch and operate an inter-Korean economic cooperation committee for the sake of balanced development of the national economy and co-prosperity," a joint press statement said.
The agreement was reached at the close of the four days of high level talks in Pyongyang.
Both sides will field a team at the committee of between five and seven officials led by a deputy government minister.
The inaugural meeting will take place in Pyongyang on December 26 to discuss "the issue of cooperation in electric power" as well as other pending issues concerning bilateral economic cooperation, the statement said.
The two Koreas have agreed to restore their cross-border rail and road links and to build an industrial park in the North's southern city of Kaesong near the inter-Korean border.
The agreement also called for the two Koreas to arrange for 100 people from each side to see their relatives separated by the division of Korea in late February.
It would be the third round of family reunions since the two Koreas held an historic inter-Korean summit in June in Pyongyang at which both sides vowed to end decades of hostility and move toward peace and reconciliation.
The two Koreas agreed to hold the fifth high-level talks in March at an unspecified location.
Unification Minister Park Jae-Kyu led the South's delegation while Jon Kum-Jin, a senior cabinet councilor and top North Korean official in charge of inter-Korean affairs, represented the North during the talks -- SEOUL (AFP)
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