Reuters, South Korea :Isolated North Korea sent its highest level delegation to South Korea on Saturday to attend the Asian Games closing ceremony amid a flurry of diplomatic activity which has raised hopes for improved ties between the arch rivals.Heading the delegation was Hwang Pyong So, who arrived at Incheon airport in full military uniform, and Choe Ryong Hae, two senior aides to North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un.Kim Yang Gon, a senior ruling Workers’ Party official and a long time veteran of dealings ties with the South, was also among the delegation.They met South Korean government officials.”The Asian Games have been a significant event that showcased the nation’s glory and strength to the world,” Kim said at the meeting. “It was an enormous joy and pride for the nation as both the North and the South performed well.”The two Koreas are technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and not a peace treaty. Armed clashes in recent years have killed soldiers on both sides, and in 2010 civilians were killed when the North bombed a Southern island.South Korea cut off political and commercial ties with the North that year, when one of its navy ships was torpedoed and sunk, killing 46 sailors. Seoul blamed Pyongyang for the attack.Inter-Korean relations have reached low point in recent years over the North’s nuclear weapons program, military aggression and human rights abuses.
