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North, South Korea Begin Family Reunion Talks

North and South Korean Red Cross officials kicked off talks Monday on organizing a rare and emotional reunion for families separated by the Korean War.

The discussions at the border truce village of Panmunjom were the product of an agreement the two Koreas reached two weeks ago to end a dangerous military standoff and reduce cross-border tensions.

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15-Year Jail Term Demanded for U.S. Envoy's Attacker

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday demanded a 15-year jail sentence for a nationalist activist who injured the U.S. Ambassador to Seoul in a knife attack last March.

Kim Ki-Jong, 56, has been charged with attempted murder for his assault on Mark Lippert at a breakfast function in Seoul that left the ambassador needing 80 stitches for a deep gash on his cheek.

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S. Korea Accuses North of Flying Drone across Border

South Korea on Wednesday accused North Korea of flying a suspected spy drone across the border during talks last week aimed at ending a military standoff that had pushed the neighbors to the brink of an armed clash.

A radar detected the flight of a suspected unmanned aerial vehicle first on August 22 in the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which bisects the Korean peninsula, Seoul's joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.

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N. Korea Warns Seoul over Twisting Peace Deal

North Korea on Wednesday accused the South of misrepresenting their agreement to defuse tensions and warned the hard-won deal was being undermined by claims Pyongyang had made an apology for border landmine blasts.

The explosions maimed two South Korean soldiers on patrol last month and triggered a crisis that brought the rivals to the brink of armed conflict.

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Kim Jong-Un Credits Nukes not Talks for Deal with S. Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said nuclear weapons -- not negotiating skills -- secured what he described as a "landmark" agreement this week with South Korea to end a dangerous military standoff.

Chairing a meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Kim credited the North with securing the deal, which had put the rival Koreas back on the path of "reconciliation and trust", the North's official KCNA news agency said Friday.

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N. Korea Negotiator Hails 'Turning-Point' for Ties with South

One of the two North Korean negotiators involved in recent crisis talks with South Korea spoke Thursday of a "dramatic turning-point" for relations between the two countries.

In an upbeat and conciliatory assessment of the agreement struck at the talks, Kim Yang-Gon, a senior party official responsible for South Korean affairs, said it carried the potential for a genuine improvement in cross-border ties.

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Red Cross: Flash Floods Kill 40 People in N. Korea

Flash floods caused by heavy rain killed 40 people in North Korea's northeastern border area over the weekend, the International Federation of the Red Cross said Wednesday.

Particularly heavy rain accompanying Typhoon Goni battered the Rason special economic zone where the borders of North Korea, Russia and China converge, the IFRC said in a statement.

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S. Korea, U.S. Say North Military Easing Off War-footing

The North Korean military is slowly easing its battle-readiness posture, South Korean and U.S. officials said Wednesday after Seoul and Pyongyang secured a deal allowing them to step back from the brink of an armed clash.

Under the agreement reached after marathon, top-level negotiations in the border truce village of Panmunjom, the North undertook to shift down from a "semi war state" once the South ended propaganda broadcasts across the border at midday (0300 GMT) Tuesday.

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S. Korea Silences Loudspeakers after Deal with North to End Crisis

South Korea switched off loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages into North Korea after the two rivals reached a compromise deal Tuesday and stepped back from the brink of an armed clash.

The giant banks of speakers, which had lain silent for more than a decade, were drafted back into action two weeks ago after Seoul blamed Pyongyang for landmine blasts that maimed two patrolling South Korean soldiers.

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S. Korea's Park Hardens Line with North, Demands Apology

South Korea's president hardened her line with North Korea on Monday, demanding an unequivocal apology for recent provocations as the two rivals struggled to negotiate their way out of a dangerous military standoff.

As grueling talks between top negotiators from both sides entered a third day in the border truce village of Panmunjom, Park Geun-Hye insisted on North Korea making a sincere gesture of contrition for mine blasts this month that maimed two South Korean soldiers.

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