Seoul says no deadline in dialogue overtures to Pyongyang

South Korea's Unification Ministry on Wednesday said there has been no deadline set for its earlier dialogue overtures to North Korea.

No deadline has been set for talks with North Korea though Pyongyang had yet to respond to its earlier dialogue offers, Xinhua news agency quoted Unification Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun as saying.

The spokesman said South Korea would calmly and composedly await North Korea's positive response.

South Korea had earlier this month proposed to North Korea for holding military talks to stop all hostile acts near the military demarcation line (MDL) dividing the two sides.

Seoul also offered to have a separate dialogue with North Korea to discuss the reunion of families of the two sides, who have been separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in armistice, not a peace treaty.

Pyongyang has been mum about the dialogue overtures until Wednesday.

The dialogue offers came as follow-up measures to South Korean President Moon Jae-in's "Korean Peninsula Peace Initiative", which was announced earlier this month in Berlin.

Concerns emerged here about possible North Korean moves on July 27 to mark the 64th anniversary of the armistice agreement that halted the Korean War in 1953.

The Korean peninsula is technically at a state of war as the three-year fratricidal war ended in ceasefire.

--IANS

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