The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Seoul

North and South Korea on Saturday agreed to hold talks next week to discuss improving military hotlines between the two nations, the defence ministry here said.

"The South and the North agreed to hold working-level military talks at 10 a.m. on Monday," the ministry said in a press statement.

"The two sides will discuss the issue of improving military telecommunication lines and other issues to be raised by each side," it said.

The meeting will occur in an area jointly managed by the sides in the western part of their border border, through which a cross-border railway runs.

The two Koreas currently have nine military hotlines, one of which is out of service due to technical problems, Yonhap news agency said.

Inter-Korean military talks on October 2, held after months of frosty relations, ended without progress.

The North threatened at the talks to evict all South Koreans from a joint industrial estate at the North's Kaesong City unless Seoul stopped defector groups spreading cross-border propaganda leaflets.

North Korea has cut off almost all forms of official dialogue with the South since the conservative government of President Lee Myung-Bak took office in February and adopted a hardline stance against the North.

North Korea often turns such military talks into a propaganda session.