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SEOUL : A South Korean team headed for North Korea on Wednesday to discuss flood control in a cross-border river following a deadly dam discharge that swept away six people in the South.
The talks, and a separate meeting planned for Friday, have raised hopes of better relations despite the North's short-range missile tests on Monday.
"We will do our best to obtain good results with regard to the Imjin River incident," delegation leader Kim Nam-Sik of the unification ministry said before leaving, according to Yonhap news agency.
The North on September 6 released millions of tonnes of water from a dam across the Imjin, drowning the South Koreans camping or fishing downstream.
The incident stirred anger in the South and threatened to damage relations which have recently been improving after months of hostility.
The North said a sudden surge in the dam water level prompted an emergency release. The South concluded there was no evidence of a deliberate "water attack."
During the talks at Kaesong just north of the heavily fortified border, Seoul will seek explanations, an apology and a system to prevent any recurrence.
The North Monday test-fired five missiles, the first launches for more than three months, but the unification ministry said talks would not be affected.
For more than a year Pyongyang was bitterly hostile to the South's conservative government, which scrapped a "sunshine" aid and engagement policy with its communist neighbour.
Relations were also strained by the North's nuclear and missile tests in the spring, but it began making peace overtures in August.
In recent weeks it has freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operations of a joint industrial estate, sent envoys for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak and given the go-ahead for a family reunion programme.
Hundreds of relatives separated since the 1950-53 war held tearful brief reunions two weeks ago, the first such event for two years.
The South in talks Friday at Kaesong will seek to make the reunions a regular event, since thousands of people are dying of old age before they get a chance to meet loved ones.
- AFP/vm
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