North and South Korea are to hold talks on reuniting families divided by war in the 1950s, officials in Seoul say.

首尔官员称，朝鲜韩国正在举行谈话讨论1950年朝鲜战争中被分开家庭的团聚问题。

The two officials are responsible for inter-Korean relations

The programme, organised by the Red Cross, has been suspended for more than a year.

The announcement that talks will resume this week is being seen as another sign of thaw¹ between the two Koreas, correspondents say.

It follows North Korea's attendance at the funeral of former South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung.

The three-day talks about reuniting families through the Red Cross are expected to open on Wednesday at the Mount Kumgang resort, North Korea.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says that during the first few years of this decade thousand of Koreans were able to see their relatives face to face, in highly emotional but brief meetings.

The reunions were stopped after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008 amid North Korean anger at his policy of ending unconditional² aid handouts³.

Some reports say the reunion programme could begin again as early as October.

Northern overtures⁴

The return to talks between North and South Korea follows two weeks of increased contact between the two countries.

The North sent a senior delegation⁵ to Kim Dae-jung's state funeral carrying a message expressing hope for a lessening⁶ of tension.

Talks between South Korea's Unification Minister Hyun In-taek and the North Korean envoys⁸ were the first high-level meeting between the two sides since February 2008.

Pyongyang has also invited US envoy⁷ Stephen Bosworth to visit the North next month for talks on its nuclear arms programme, South Korean media says.

Two separate reports, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources in Washington, said Mr Bosworth would be travelling to South Korea, China, Japan and North Korea to try to restart the six-party negotiations⁹, which also include Russia.

North Korea has also told US politician Bill Richardson that it wants to return to international negotiations - but only with the US, not its neighbours.

"We support a dialogue between North Korea and South Korea and we welcome meaningful steps that lead to a reduction of tension on the Korean peninsula（半岛）," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

But he added: "I would not say that we've seen really any progress toward our oft-stated（常说的） goal and our clear position that we want to engage with North Korea to discuss the denuclearisation issue in the six-party context."