SEOUL — South Korea on Friday urged North Korea to accept its offer of military talks aimed at reducing tensions along the border, describing it as a "very urgent task". Seoul’s overture came after North Korea claimed to have carried out its first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. South Korea also called for restoration of cross-border military and government hotlines that North Korea severed last year. The hotlines were severed in the wake of South Korea’s additional sanctions on North Korea over a nuclear test. If North Korea accepted the South’s offer for the military talks, it would have been the first official governmental talks between the two Koreas since vice ministerial talks were held in December 2015.

Source: Viet Nam News July 21, 2017 05:03 UTC