The Ministry of Unification on Thursday approved a four-day trip to Pyongyang by five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, including its head Kim Hong-gul. They are expected to enter North Korea via air from Beijing on Monday, according to the group.

Key items that will be discussed with North Korea are a joint South-North joint project on recovering and repatriating the remains of Korean victims of forced labor, establishment of a cross-border communication line to expand civilian exchanges and details for a cross-border event, the statement read. 

The KCRC is a South Korean organization launched in 1998, whose 200 or so members come from political parties across the spectrum as well as religious and civic groups.

Kim said he hopes the trip will help to lay the groundwork for more active cross-border civilian exchanges.

The exact number of sets of remains in Japan is unknown, but Kim had previously said the retrieval project may start with about 2,200 sets of remains that are located in a specific area in Japan.

The trip comes on the back of an inter-Korean summit in April and a separate meeting between leaders of the US and North Korea, which have led to a reopening of a slew of cross-border talks.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)