Hopes of thaw as North, South Korea agree to resume reconciliation talks

North and South Korea agreed yesterday to resume reconciliation talks after the North sent its most senior delegation ever to its estranged neighbour at just 24 hours' notice.

The delegation, formally sent to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, comprised Hwang Pyong-so, a senior military aide and confidant to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un; another close adviser; and a senior official in the ruling Workers' Party and veteran of talks with the South.

The team were given a warm welcome by South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae - the main policymaker on inter-Korean affairs - and President Park Geun-hye's national security adviser, Kim Kwan-jin.

Park has been pushing for a resumption of high-level dialogue, stalled since February, to ease bilateral tensions, and the North agreed that officials would meet some time between late October and early November.

No reason was given for the 12-hour visit, but the change in tone was striking after months of near-daily invective from state media directed at the South, and at Park in particular.

The North's leader is known as a sports enthusiast who wants to make his country a "sporting superpower", however, and the Asian Games may have provided an opportune cue.