North Korea agrees to talks with South on family reunions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang August 28, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has agreed to Red Cross talks with South Korea to discuss reunions of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War, a South Korean official said on Saturday, setting up the first meeting under a recent accord aimed at defusing tensions.

The accord reached on Tuesday pulled the rivals back from the brink of an armed conflict. The two sides agreed to work towards resuming the meetings of families, an emotional issue given the advancing years of surviving family members.