Koreas to hold high-level talks amid tensions: Cheong Wa Dae

South and North Korea will hold high-level talks at the border village of Panmunjom later Saturday, Cheong Wa Dae said, in a move to try to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo will meet with Kim Yang-gon, the top official in charge of South Korea affairs, and Hwang Pyong-so, director of the general political department of North Korea's military, at 6 p.m., said Kim Kyou-hyun, deputy chief of the presidential office of national security.

North Korea set 5 p.m. Saturday as the deadline for South Korea to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts along the heavily fortified border and dismantle all loudspeakers. The announcement of the meeting fell just two hours before this deadline.

The North threatened to launch "strong military action" if South Korea defies the ultimatum. North Korea also warned late Friday that it is prepared to engage in "all-out war." (Yonhap)