S. Korea Ready for First N. Korea Talks Since Attack

South Korea said it will accept North Korea’s proposal to hold military talks, their first contact since Kim Jong Il’s regime shelled a South Korean island in November, killing four people.

South Korea decided to hold talks with North Korea after the communist nation yesterday said it was willing to discuss the artillery attack as well as the March sinking of a South Korean warship, according to an e-mailed statement from the Unification Ministry in Seoul. North Korea proposed discussing “ways to defuse military tensions,” the statement said.