TOKYO (Sputnik) – The sides agreed to meet after tensions escalated in August with an exchange of cross-border fire along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Pyongyang declared what it described a "semi-state of war" at the time.
South Korean Deputy Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi is expected to meet Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea Deputy Executive Secretary Jeon Jeong Soo in the Kaesong border town.
The Sejong Institute private non-profit’s unification expert Cheong Seong-chang told RIA Novosti he expected Friday’s meeting to influence foreign policy both in Seoul and Pyongyang.
"The result of the current negotiations will have a very big impact not only on Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech, but on the North-South relations next year as a whole," Cheong said.
South and North Korea remain legally at war, as no peace treaty was signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953.
