The meeting between the two Koreas comes as a senior U.S. diplomat heads to the region for separate talks aimed at prodding the reclusive North back to international nuclear disarmament discussions and a rare visit by a senior U.N. envoy to Pyongyang next week.

Analysts say pressure is mounting on the destitute North to end its year-long boycott of the six-country, disarmament-for-aid talks. Pyongyang may try to better its bargaining position with military moves that underscore the threat it poses to the economically vibrant region.

North Korean artillery, which last week fired hundreds of rounds into its waters on its side of the sea border off the west coast, were silent over the weekend.

Envoys from the South crossed the heavily armed border as scheduled for talks over the Kaesong industrial park, the last joint project between the states where South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labour and land to make goods.

The park is one of the few sources of legitimate foreign currency for the North´s leaders who have been pressing the South to increase rent and wage payments for its nearly 40,000 workers at the complex located about 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Seoul.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who is due to arrive in Tokyo on Monday and then head to Seoul the following day, was expected to discuss the conditions the North has attached to returning to the stalled nuclear talks.

The North has demanded an end to U.N. sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in May 2009 that have slammed its broken economy and a peace treaty with the United States to replace the cease fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, which could then help open up international finance for Pyongyang.