SEOUL, April 6: North and South Korea announced on Saturday they had agreed to revive peace talks in a bid to put their relations back on track.

“Both sides agreed to bring back on track the inter-Korean relations that had temporarily been frozen,” they said in a joint press statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“Both sides agreed to respect each other and strive not to create tension, guided by the basic spirit of the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.”

The statement was released after South Korean presidential special envoy Lim Dong-Won returned home from Pyongyang, where he met with the North’s leader Kim Jong-Il and delivered a letter from President Kim Dae-Jung.

“Chairman Kim said he wanted to visit Seoul and meet President Kim again but there was no concrete agreement on this issue,” Lim told reporters.

The statement also said the two Koreas will resume the reunions of families separated by the division of the Korean peninsula at the North’s scenic Mount Kumgang on April 28.

They agreed to rejoin their severed cross-border railways and roads. Agreement was also reached on building as early as possible new railways and roads in addition to the already-agreed Sinuiju-Seoul railway link and the Kaesong-Munsan road.

The statement said the North had decided to send a delegation to inspect South Korean industrial facilities in May as already agreed upon.

“Both sides agreed with each other to recommend the respective military authorities to resume the talks between the military authorities of the North and the South,” it said.—AFP