By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea is ready to discuss issues over high-level talks with North Korea, including timing, place and agenda, a senior Ministry of Unification official said Thursday.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon is expected to lead the South Korean delegation, while Ri Sun-kwon, chairman of North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, may represent his side, according to the official, who asked not to be named.

Ri was promoted to the head of the committee, formerly an offshoot of the North Korean Workers' Party but elevated to a government body in June 2016.

Ri took orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in restoring a suspended hotline with the South, Thursday, as a preparatory step for the high-level talks.

The ministry official's comments come as the two Koreas are set to hold high-level talks proposed by Cho after Kim's offer to send a delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Monday.

"We are open to discuss timing, place, agenda and other issues related to the talks," the official said. "We are waiting for North Korea's response. We will then take them into account when we discuss with relevant ministries and jointly form our delegation for the talks."

To facilitate preparation for these, the two Koreas restored their hotline at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Wednesday, but have not begun discussions yet.

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"The situation is changing so fast since Kim made his offer and the two sides may undergo some stops and starts," the official said.

Meanwhile, Cho has emerged as a candidate to represent the South Korean side after he suggested reopening the communication lines at Panmunjeom and Ri announced Kim's instruction to do so.

"Cho and Ri are seen as equivalent in rank and they are anticipated to meet as counterparts," the official said.

The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland and the Ministry of Unification have dealt with cross-border relations.

But citing protocol reasons, Seoul previously was against a committee chief being considered a unification minister counterpart, arguing that the committee was not a government organization.

During the Park Geun-hye administration in 2016, the two Koreas failed in their attempt to hold high-level talks when Seoul and Pyongyang proposed a vice unification minister and the committee chairman as their top representatives.

On Thursday, the liaison officers of Seoul and Pyongyang continued testing the telephone line at the Panmunjeom.

The unification ministry said the North called at 9:30 a.m., 30 minutes later than they initially agreed to talk.

The sources speculated that this may be because of time difference between the two Koreas.

Since Aug. 15, 2016, North Korea has turned its clock back by 30 minutes and established its own time zone in a diplomatic salvo aimed at Japan.

Pyongyang argued that the sovereign "Pyongyang time" was to root out the legacy of the Japanese colonial period.