Feb 8 set as new date for North-South Korea military talks

SEOUL - The two Koreas Tuesday agreed to hold military talks Feb 8, their first since the North’s artillery strike on a South Korean island in November.

North Korea had asked Seoul to shift the date from Feb 11, the Yonhap News Agency quoted Defence Ministry officials as saying.

The working-level negotiations to be held in the North Korean border village of Panmunjom are meant to prepare the way for talks between senior military officers or the defence ministers.

Pyongyang had made several offers of talks since the beginning of the year, but all had been dismissed by the South, which said the proposals were not serious.

Tensions between the two neighbours have risen sharply since the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of a Southern warship in March.