Path Cleared for Korea Talks

GENEVA — Officials from four countries seeking a permanent peace for the divided Korean peninsula said Saturday that they had removed the last obstacles to full-blown talks.

Details were vague, but delegates from the United States, China and North and South Korea said they agreed on small but crucial procedural details: forming two working groups to discuss ways to reduce tensions along the world’s most heavily armed border and to establish mechanisms for keeping the peace there.

A U.S. official said the “substantive work” would begin when negotiators hold the next round of talks in Geneva in January.

Agreement on procedures is vital before talks can address the substance of a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.