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North Korea'’s National Defense Commission Vice Chairman Hwang Pyong So, left, North Korea'’s ruling Workers Party Secretaries, Choe Ryong Hae, right. Dita Alangkara/AP/Press Association Images

Talks to resume between North and South Korea after surprise visit

Three top-ranking North Korean officials attended the closing ceremony of the Asian Games.

NORTH AND SOUTH Korea have agreed to work on resuming a formal high-level dialogue that has effectively been suspended for seven months, the South’s Unification Ministry said.

The agreement came during a surprise visit to South Korea by three top-ranking North Korean officials, two of them close aides to paramount leader Kim Jong-Un.

The delegation was sent south for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games.

“The two sides agreed to discuss details for the resumption of the high-level contact,” the Unification Ministry said in a statement.

Seoul has been urging the North to resume the talks for several months, but until now Pyongyang had spurned the request, partly in irritation over recent South Korea-US joint military drills.

“Willingness”

The ministry statement said the North Korean officials had expressed a “willingness” to restart the dialogue between late October and early November.

The last high-level talks were held in Seoul in February and resulted in the North hosting a rare reunion for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The talks had fuelled hopes of further constructive engagement, but those were dashed as the two rivals entered one of their regular periods of elevated military tension.

The Unification Ministry statement also noted that President Park Geun-Hye had wanted to meet the visiting North delegates on Saturday, but the tight schedule of their sudden visit did not allow for a trip to the presidential Blue House.

© – AFP 2014

Read: Sad scenes as families are reunited for first time since Korean War >

Whoops: Media outlets duped by North Korea ‘rocket to the sun’ story >

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    Mute Dave Walsh
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 5:59 PM

    We dont recognize mandate.What country do they think we’re in South Korea.Its your right be a member of a union.Any one who goes past a picket is a S___.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 6:31 PM

    @Dave Walsh: They have more then 800 staff so 30% is not happy and 70% agreed
    a deal. Yes it is everybody’s right to be a member of a union but it’s also our right not to agree with the picket.

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 6:32 PM

    @Dave Walsh: I always found it interesting that it’s a ‘right’ to be part of a union but you’ve no ‘right’ to pass a picket , you’ll be called every name under the sun. Find it pretty hypocritical to be honest.

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    Mute Lisa Byrne
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 6:40 PM

    @Bilbo Baggins: It is a right under the constitution that you can be a member of a union. You can pass a picket if you want but of course you will be called names and be scorned for passing a picket, not because you have the right to pass picket but because it is a not a nice thing to do.

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    Mute Dave Gibney
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 7:14 PM

    @Hans Vos: incorrect. Senior management and the Directors allowed themselves a vote on their own proposals, including 70 staff in Head Office who are not impacted by the deal at all. They gerrymandered the vote. They also didn’t allow an anonymous vote because you had to supply your name and staff number in order to vote. 96% of staff who voted in the only independent anonymous ballot rejected the deal – and that was a vote by people affected by the proposals. The company are the most profitable multinational pharma company in the world and they pay their irish workforce as low as €10 per hour. The CEO paid himself €15 million last year. These workers deserve better.

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    Mute Dave Walsh
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    Sep 3rd 2018, 3:11 PM

    @Bilbo Baggins: where you born that way?

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    Mute Gerard O'Brien
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 5:47 PM

    Lloyd have mercy!

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    Mute Roy O'Rourke
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 6:42 PM

    @Gerard O’Brien:

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    Mute postmanbill
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    Sep 3rd 2018, 12:40 AM

    Well done to the Lloyds workers keep up the fight. Anybody who passes an official picket should be ashamed of themselves.

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    Mute Steven C. Schulz
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    Sep 2nd 2018, 10:44 PM

    They don’t deserve to serve in healtcare even tangentially.

    Fire them all.

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    Mute Steven C. Schulz
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    Sep 3rd 2018, 4:14 AM

    @Steven C. Schulz: This is a strike against the public safety and should be illegal.

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