Red Cross officials from the two Koreas have agreed to hold talks on South Korean POWs and abductees believed to be held in the North.

The agreement came late Thursday, the last day of the 7th round of Red Cross talks at North Korea’s Mount Geumgang resort.

This is the first time the North has accepted the South's request for confirmation on the whereabouts of "those whose fate remains unknown during and after the Korean War" apparently referring to South Koreans taken prisoner during the war and those abducted to the North after the war.

The Defense Ministry believes some five-hundred POWs and more than four-hundred abductees are still alive in the North. North Korea has been denying the presence of South Korean abductees so far, claiming that they voluntarily defected to the North.

The two sides also agreed to hold a reunion of two-hundred separated relatives from each Korea to mark the sixth anniversary of the June 2000 inter-Korean declaration.

Two rounds of video reunions involving 60 families from each side will also be held in June and in August.

South Korea has also agreed to provide the North facilities needed to expand family reunion projects, including the establishing of a video reunion center.

The two sides will meet again at the North’s scenic mountain resort for the 8th round of discussions in June.