The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Tuesday accepted a recent proposal by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to resume working-level talks on re-linking cross-border railways and roads.  

In a telephone message sent to the DPRK from the truce village of Panmunjom, the ROK agreed to hold discussions from Thursday through Saturday in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, reported ROK's Yonhap News Agency.

The working level meeting was not convened on March 24-26 as scheduled after the DPRK demanded delay of it. The DPRK accused ROK-US joint military drills which were held in late March.

In the telephone call, the ROK also proposed holding working level inter-Korean economic talks in the ROK city of Paju, about 30 kilometers north of Seoul to discuss ways of settling bilateral trade transactions.

The meeting on economic measures was scheduled to take place in Paju last month, but was called off when the DPRK suddenly demanded a change of venue to Kaesong, citing "political turmoil" in the ROK following the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

The ROK's opposition-controlled legislature on March 12 voted overwhelmingly in favor of stripping Roh of his executive powers. A final decision on the impeachment is pending in the Constitutional Court.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2004)