Visit of Top North Korean Officials to South Korea Creates a Stir

Three top officials of North Korea are in South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian games in Incheon city.

The meeting comes amid speculations about  Kim Jong Un's health and his disappearance from the public eye since the last one month.

The North Korean covey of officials is led by Hwang Pyong-so, the second most important official after leader Kim Jong-un, and head of North Korea's military.

The top officials will meet South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and a senior security adviser. They will also meet Prime Minister Chung Hong-won.

The three officials have conveyed that Pyongyang is willing to hold a second round of high-level meetings between late October and early November, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Saturday, reports the CNN.

The first round of talks was held in February.

The visit apparently came at very short notice and Hwang and Kim Yang-gon and Choe Ryong-hae, both members of the ruling Worker's Party, were given permits to attend the same day of the request by Seoul.

The high rank of the team conveys the importance of the meeting and Pyongyang's willingness to carry forward the talks despite rhetoric to the contrary.

What the closest members of Kim Jong Un's inner circle discuss with the South Korean government will be analysed to discern the exact health status of the leader, BBC reports.

Kim Jong un was last seen in public on Sept. 3 and he missed the People's Supreme Assembly, an important parliamentary meeting late last month

Both the Koreas have been at loggerheads since 1953. North Korea has been conducting missile and nuclear tests despite sanctions against it.