Two Koreas agree on date for military talks

North and South Korea will hold working-level military talks on February 8, the defense ministry said Tuesday, in their first contact since the North's deadly shelling of a border island last November. 

The talks will set the date, place and agenda for a higher-level military meeting, possibly between defense ministers. 

But Seoul said the high-level meeting would only go ahead if Pyongyang took responsibility for two attacks on the South last year and promised no repetition. 

South Korea earlier expressed its openness to a leadership summit with the North Korea dictator Kim Jong-il if it shows it is sincere about nuclear disarmament, the south's president has said, further raising hopes of a resumption of talks between the troubled nations in the coming months.