28 Sep 08 - Korea Times - Premier Expects Military Talks to Improve Relations Between Koreas

North Korea surprised South Korean officials with the request for the military meeting late last week. "I hope this will be the start of a productive relationship," Han Seung-soo, South Korea's prime minister, said at a diplomacy conference in Seoul Sunday. "We want a much more mature level of inter-Korean relations."

28 September 2008 : Korea Times 

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo expressed hope Sunday that the military talks proposed by North Korea Thursday, if realized, will help improve worsening relations between the two Koreas.

In his speech at an international forum in Seoul, Han said he hopes that the North will come to the conference table with pure intentions.

"I don't know what will be discussed at the talks. But I hope that the meeting will prove to be the starting point toward improvement of inter-Korean relations in the future," he said.

Pyongyang proposed Seoul hold working-level military talks with it Tuesday, the Ministry of National Defense said.

"The North proposed the meeting with the South through an inter-Korean military channel Thursday morning,'' said a ministry spokesman said.

Inter-Korean relations worsened after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier at the Mount Geumgang resort on the east coast.

North Korea has refused to apologize or cooperate in investigating the death.

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