SEOUL, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- South Korea will propose a peace framework with North Korea during inter-Korean talks set to begin Tuesday, a Unification Ministry official said Monday.
"We think it is necessary for the two Koreas to start serious discussions on the matter," said Kim Chun-sig, director of the ministry's Inter-Korean Exchanges and Cooperation Bureau, the Korea Times reported.
Kim cited "substantial progress" in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs as the reason for the two Koreas to begin working on a framework for peace. Kim said the matter would become urgent "as soon as the nuclear issue is settled."
The six-party talks, involving China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas, also reopen Tuesday in Beijing.
The Korea Times quoted Yang Moo-jin, professor at Kyungnam University's Graduate School of North Korean Studies, as saying that Seoul might be planning a second inter-Korean summit that would include a "peace declaration."
The first summit, between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, took place in 2000.
