Korea talks set to resume

North Korea today accepted a South Korean proposal to resume talks in Seoul next week for the first time since official contacts broke off in March.

South Korea made the proposal in a telephone call through its liaison office at the border village of Panmunjom.

The call came in response to a North Korean offer last weekend to restart talks ‘‘as soon as possible’’.

North Korea accepted the South Korea suggestion in a telegram hours later, the South Korean Unification Ministry said.

‘‘We accept your proposal and we hope the upcoming talks will produce good results respecting the spirit of the June 15 (2000) summit agreement and living up to the expectations of the whole nation,’’ the ministry quoted the telegram as saying.

The telegram was referring to a summit last year between leaders of the two Koreas that led to a series of exchanges, including reunions of separated family members and a plan to reconnect a cross-border railway.

Talks broke off earlier this year because of tension between North Korea and the United States, South Korea’s chief ally.

South Korea had suggested that ministers of the two sides meet between September 15 and 18.

South Korean president Kim Dae-jung faces political turmoil at home, where the National Assembly voted earlier this week for the dismissal of the minister in charge of North Korea policy.

Unification minister Lim Dong-won was a chief proponent of the president’s so-called ‘‘sunshine’’ policy of engaging North Korea, which had been criticised by opposition politicians as too lenient toward the North’s government.

The entire 22-member Cabinet offered to resign after the vote against Lim. Kim is expected to appoint a new cabinet tomorrow, said chief presidential spokesman Park Joon-young.

The Koreas were divided in 1945. The 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.