SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's president met a high-level delegation from North Korea today amid signs of warming ties on the divided peninsula.
Relations between the Koreas have been largely frozen since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year with a tougher line on the North amid the international standoff over its nuclear ambitions.
However, there have been increasing signs of warming ties between the rival countries this month with the regime releasing a detained South Korean worker, and its announcement that it would allow the resumption of some joint projects.
The North also dispatched the delegation of senior officials to pay respects after the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
Lee held talks today with the North Korean delegation at his office, said a presidential Blue House official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
The official didn't provide further details.
Yonhap news agency reported Saturday, without citing a source, that the North Koreans were expected to deliver a message from leader Kim Jong Il and outline Pyongyang's plan to release four South Korean fishermen seized in July. They would also convey the North's position on resuming official dialogue.
North Korea regularly blasts Lee as a "traitor" and "human scum" and accuses South Korea of conniving with the United States to attack it with nuclear weapons. But Pyongyang has recently offered a series of olive branches to Seoul in an apparently concerted effort to improve relations.