The agreement came during a surprise visit to South Korea by North Korean
officials for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games.
The visit was led by two top-ranking North Korean officials seen as close
aides to leader Kim Jong-un.
Both sides were said to have agreed to meet again within the next few weeks.
Hwang Pyong-so, seen as the second-most powerful man in North Korea, held
talks with Ryoo Kihl-jae, the South’s reunification minister, on Saturday after
flying to Incheon to attend the sporting event.
It is not known what was discussed at the meeting and neither party has
commented publicly on the talks.
The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Seoul says the talks are something of a
breakthrough given the level of insult thrown at the South by the North in
recent years.
Relations between the two have been practically non-existent for four years,
but the North’s economic troubles seem to have forced a change of tack, our
correspondent adds.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict was
ended with a truce.
The surprise meeting comes amid ongoing speculation about the health of the
North’s leader.
Kim has not been seen in public since 3 September. A recent official
documentary showed him limping.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, So Se Pyong, said on Friday
that the country was ready to resume talks on its nuclear programme.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, So also said the North was not
planning any missile or nuclear tests.
North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear programme in 2005, but it has
been conducting missile and nuclear tests since the negotiations broke down in
2008.
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