A South Korean delegation headed out of Seoul early this morning for the cross-border truce village of Panmunjom for talks with North Korea.  South Korea's Unification Ministry said a wide range of pressing inter-Korean issues will be discussed.

The invitation from the North was rather sudden.  South Korea's chief delegate, Kim Kyou-hyun, said he will meet with his North Korean counterpart with “an open attitude to explore the chance of opening a new Korean Peninsula.”  Kim’s priority is to ensure that families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War can be reunited later this month at a North Korean resort as scheduled.

The North Korean delegation is led by Won Dong-yon, the deputy head of the United Front Department, a ruling Workers' Party body that handles inter-Korean ties.

Pyongyang has threatened to call off the reunions because of annual joint US-South Korean military exercises, calling them a dress-rehearsal for nuclear war. 

Seoul and Washington have vowed to go ahead with the annual drills, which are set to run from late February through April.