Joint Korean team talks get back on track

North Korea has proposed resuming talks on a joint team with the South for the Beijing Olympics which had been suspended due to friction over Pyongyang's defiant missile test in July, an official said yesterday.

The two Koreas have long sought to form a joint 2008 Olympic team but the North halted talks on co-operation projects in anger at Seoul's decision to suspend regular food aid after the North defied international warnings and test-fired missiles.

North Korea's nuclear test on Oct. 9 further chilled relations.

The head of North Korea's Olympic committee sent a letter to the South's committee on Nov. 10 asking for the resumption of talks on a joint team for Beijing Games, Cho Yong-nam, a Unification Ministry official in charge of cultural exchanges, said.

Cho said no date has been set for resuming talks, adding that Seoul was reviewing the offer.

"We are looking at the proposal positively," said a ministry official who asked not to be named.

The two Koreas agreed just over a year ago that they would form a joint team for the 2006 Asian Games and the Beijing Olympics. They held a series of discussions.