Two Koreas agree to resume military talks

North and South Korea have agreed to resume military talks for the first time in almost five months as Seoul seeks to ease tensions over Pyongyang's July missile tests.

Officials in Seoul said the one-day talks would be held on Monday local time.

It will be the first military contact since both sides met in May to discuss ways to reduce tensions on the world's last Cold War frontier.

The North called for a working-level military meeting on July 3, just two days before its missile tests which sparked international concern, UN Security Council condemnation and weapons-related sanctions.

The South rejected that meeting in protest against the launches, its first boycott of talks with the North since a landmark summit in 2000 that launched a series of peace and reconciliation initiatives.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA