SEOUL, April 21 (UPI) -- South Korea's top security official arrived in Pyongyang Friday for high-level reconciliation talks with North Korea, Seoul officials said.
Before leaving to visit the communist neighbor, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said he would raise the issue of South Koreans abducted by the North when he meets with North Korean counterparts.
Lee is expected to offer a proposal of massive economic aid in return for the North's repatriation of some 1,000 South Koreans detained in the North.
Since taking office in January, Lee has pledged to push for the repatriation of the South Koreans in the North as one of the government's top priorities.
Seoul says some 480 South Korean civilians abducted by the North, mostly fishermen, since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War are still being detained in the North. More than 540 South Korean prisoners of war are also still stranded in the North, according to the Defense Ministry.
The North's delegation, led by senior Cabinet councilor Kwon Ho Ung, are expected to use the Cabinet-level meeting to request fertilizer aid.
The ministerial talks, which would be the 18th since the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000, are the highest-level dialogue channel to coordinate cross-border reconciliation and cooperation. The South Korean delegation returns home Monday.
