hankyoreh

Civic leaders from the two Koreas will hold talks this week to discuss ways of holding a joint event next month to mark the anniversary of Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule, officials here said Monday.

"The two sides will hold a two-day meeting from Thursday at the Mount Geumgang resort," said an official of the South's civic committee aimed at implementing the joint declaration made during the summit of the leaders of the two Koreas in 2000.

Since the historic summit, the Koreas have alternated hosting the joint anniversary celebration, and this year's event, organized by South Korea, is scheduled to be held in the South's largest port city of Busan on Aug. 15. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

In June 2000, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung held the summit, opening the floodgates for rapprochement and reconciliation. But North and South Korea are still technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Earlier this year, North Korea halted all scheduled events at a joint celebration in Pyongyang marking the seventh anniversary of the summit by preventing a lawmaker of the major opposition Grand National Party, which has held a hawkish North Korea policy, from sitting in the VIP area at an event.

SEOUL, July 23 (Yonhap News)