The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have agreed to hold working-level talks on aviation cooperation later this week, Seoul's unification ministry said Wednesday.

The aviation dialogue will be held Friday at the joint liaison office of the two Koreas at the DPRK border town of Kaesong.

The five-member ROK delegation will be led by Son Myung-soo, a senior official of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The DPRK delegation will be represented by Ri Yong Son, deputy director-general of the General Administration of Civil Aviation.

The Seoul ministry said the two sides would discuss the issues of mutual concern about aviation cooperation during the upcoming talks as well as what cooperation could be made possible in the aviation field at the current stage.

Possibly on the dialogue agenda would be the opening of a direct air route between the two Koreas, according to local media reports.

After the second inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in October 2007, the two Koreas agreed to push for the direct air route across the border and the decrepit airport repair, but it was halted under the conservative ROK governments.

Another possible agenda item could be that DPRK airplanes be allowed to fly through ROK airspace to third countries. The DPRK already submitted a request for it to the International Civil Aviation Organization earlier this year, according to local media reports.