US, South Korea, Japan to Discuss Korean Reconciliation in New York

US, South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers will meet in New York next week to discuss reducing tensions in the Korean Peninsula following a recent exchange of fire on the Korean border, the South Korean foreign office said Tuesday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Tensions between the two Koreas escalated when cross-border artillery fire erupted along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in late August, prompting Pyongyang to declare what it described as a "semi-state of war." The two countries eventually defused tensions after a series of talks.

In a statement released Tuesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said he was going to meet his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida and US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 29 to explain Seoul’s reconciliation plans with Pyongyang.

The allies will discuss the August stand-off and move toward bringing "peace and security to the Korean peninsula."

South and North Korea remain formally at war, as no peace treaty has been signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953.