The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday expressed regrets on its abrupt release of dam water on Sept. 6, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.

Kim Nam-sik (C), head of a three-member South Korean delegation, leaves the government office for Kaesong in Seoul on October 14, 2009. A South Korean delegation departed here Wednesday morning to Kaesong, a border city in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), for a inter-governmental meeting on river flood prevention. (Xinhua)

Lee said Seoul has yet to decide whether to accept the DPRK’s expression as an apology.

The meeting between the two sides kicked off in the morning of Wednesday, a day after Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s proposal to hold government-level talks on related issues.

On Sept. 6, the DPRK’s abrupt discharge of its dam water led to death of six South Koreans who had been camping near the Imjin River.

Although South Korea asked for an apology for the discharge, the DPRK kept saying it was forced to open the floodgates to lower the water level, which Seoul did not consider “sufficient.”

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet