North, South Korea hold rare talks

North and South Korean officials sat down Thursday for rare talks aimed at paving the way for a sustainable high-level dialogue that has constantly eluded the two rivals. The meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom began shortly before 1:00pm (0400 GMT) and marked the first inter-governmental interaction since August when the two sides met to defuse a crisis that had pushed them to the brink of an armed conflict. A similar effort back in June 2013 saw both sides agree to hold what would