Rival Koreas resuming high-level peace talks

South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (center) speaks to the media before leaving for the border village of Panmunjom to attend South and North Korea meeting at the Office of the South Korea-North Korea Dialogue in Seoul, South Korea on Friday, June 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea were resuming senior-level peace talks, which Seoul considered an important step in building trust with Pyongyang amid a United States-led diplomatic push to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons.

The meeting at an inter-Korean border village on Friday follows a meeting in New York between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol where they discussed a potential summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea planned to use the high-level meeting with the North to set up military talks on reducing tensions across their heavily armed border, and Red Cross talks to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.  /kga