By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South and North Korean officials met in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss details on a variety of ongoing cross-border projects in their first economic talks this year.

A 27-member North Korean delegation, led by Choe Yong-gon, vice minister of construction material and industry, arrived at Incheon International Airport via Beijing.

The Eighth Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee talks have come about four months after the last round of the conference in Pyongyang and on the heels of the six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear programs that ended last Saturday in Beijing.

The Northern delegates headed to a Seoul hotel, where the four-day economic negotiations will be held, and met their Southern counterparts, headed by Finance and Economy Vice Minister Kim Gwang-lim.

They toured the LG Science Exhibition in Yoido, Seoul, as the only formal event scheduled yesterday was a banquet hosted by South Korea’s Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun.

Experts say this round of inter-Korean talks will focus on three major bilateral cooperation projects: the reconnection of two sets of cross-border railways and roads; the construction of an industrial park in Kaesong, a North Korean city south of Pyongyang; and a tourism project to the North’s scenic Mt. Kumgang.

Delegates are also expected to discuss various measures to ensure smooth operation of the joint projects.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr