Senior officials of the two Koreas met Monday in the North Korean border city of Gaesong ten months after the last inter-Korean dialogue.

Vice Unification Minister Lee Bong-jo proposed to resume next month a ministerial meeting that was supposed to have opened last August.

The South Korean delegation proposed regularizing inter-Korean talks, saying such talks will pave the way towards normalizing inter-Korean ties.

Lee also called Pyongyang's nuclear proclamation in February a clear violation of the 1992 agreement for a nuclear-free peninsula, and urged the North to promptly return to the six-way talks.

South Korea also proposed reopening defense ministers’ and Red Cross talks and delivering fertilizer aid via the Gyeongui Railway.

Chatting with North Korean delegates before the official meeting, Lee stressed mutual respect, trust and faithful implementation of what the two sides agree on to improve inter-Korean relations.

In response, the North's chief delegate Kim Man-gil called for "healthy" talks to relieve the concern of people in both Koreas.

A three-member Seoul delegation led by Lee arrived in the North Monday morning. The officials will return home at the end of the day and hold the second day of talks in Gaesong Tuesday.

Cabinet officials of the two Koreas had met 14 times alternately in their capitals until the North unilaterally called off a scheduled meeting last summer.