North Korea has not given a response for eight days to South Korea’s proposal to hold the second inter-Korean high-level talks next week.
    
In a news briefing on Monday, Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said that although Pyongyang has not yet sent a reply, Seoul hopes to hold the second round of talks with the North on October 30 at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
 
He noted that the two Koreas agreed upon the high-level talks in a meeting with Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and Presidential National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin and the three top North Korean officials who visited South Korea on October 4 to attend the closing ceremony of the Incheon Asian Games.
 
Seoul sent the proposal for the date and the venue to the North on October 13.
    
Some observers predict, however, that the high-level talks may not occur as inter-Korean military tensions are escalating with the exchange of fire at the Military Demarcation Line over the weekend.
 
On top of the North's provocations, a South Korean civic group says that it will again push with the plan to distribute anti-Pyongyang leaflets near the inter-Korean border on October 25.