Japan and North Korea Informal Talk

According to Martin Fackler of the New York Times, on Thursday, North Korea and Japan agreed to talk for the first in over a year Japanese and North Korean diplomats met in the city of Shenyang in china. The reason for such a long period of silence between the two states is due to the launching of long range rockets over Japan in December 2012 by North Korea, this created huge controversy between the two states. According to Japanese officials the discussions will include topics such as their nuclear and ballistics weapons programs, but the main goal would be to smooth over tensions between the two countries.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/asia/japan-and-north-korea.html?_r=0