South Korea has proposed to North Korea that another round of vice ministerial talks be held on Oct.30 at the truce village of Panmunjom, a government official said Wednesday.

The South made the offer on Monday, but the North has not responded to it yet, a unification ministry official told reporters.

Seoul hopes to discuss the reunion of separated families and other pending inter-Korean issues. It said the issue of existing bilateral sanctions on Pyongyang can be on the table as well.  

The two Koreas earlier agreed to hold the second round of high-level talks between late October and early November. The North asked the South to set a specific date.

The deal was the only major tangible fruit of an Oct. 4 visit to the South by a high-powered North Korean delegation headed by Hwang Pyong-so, director of the Korean People's Army General Political Bureau.

Media here criticized the South's government for the belated revelation of its offer of the date.

The government had kept it secret as inter-Korean relations had been "at a sensitive time" following the exchange of gunfire, according to the ministry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The announcement came a few hours after military generals from the two sides had rare talks at Panmunjom that ended without a major breakthrough.

In the February talks, the South was represented by Kim Kyou-hyun, deputy chief of the presidential office of national security and his counterpart was Won Dong-yon, the deputy head of the United Front Department.