Speculation is brewing over possible inter-Korean contact behind the scenes after North Korean officials in charge of relations with the South were found to have recently visited Beijing.

Kim Yang-gon, Pyongyang's top point man on the South, reportedly visited Beijing from October 15 through October 20 along with Won Dong-yeon, director of the North's Asia Pacific Peace Committee which oversees inter-Korean business cooperation.

Kim Yang-gon, who heads the United Front Department, an intelligence agency under the North's Workers' Party, as well as the APPC, had met with President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul after attending former president Kim Dae-jung's funeral in August.

The high-profile North Korean delegation including Kim had brought up the idea of an inter-Korean summit, which Seoul did not reveal to the public until Washington leaked the information last week.

Seoul said there was no official invitation to President Lee and that it was only being careful to avoid being tricked by the North. Lee and his key aides have also reiterated that meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would be meaningless without the North making efforts for denuclearisation, a notion that must have offered relief to hardliners.

But with bilateral talks between North Korea and the United States expected in a matter of days from now, Seoul finds itself under pressure to resume serious dialogue with Pyongyang.

The past two inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 took place after months of advance discussions between top-level envoys from both sides.

This time, Seoul is expected to opt for an unofficial channel to prepare for high-level talks with the North, if that is on its agenda, as taking an initiative when there is no progress on the denuclearisation front would seem contradictory to its hardline policy.

"If the South is considering high-level talks with Pyongyang which could later lead to a summit, it would most likely start with sending someone of high-profile but not someone currently assuming a government post," said Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow of an inter-Korean relations studies programme at Sejong Institute.

"That's how the United States broke the ice with the North; by sending former US president Bill Clinton who is technically a nongovernmental figure."

Clinton's Pyongyang visit in August, despite its purpose of bringing back two US journalists held in the North, gave North Korea reason to believe it was a step closer to holding bilateral talks with the United States.

It is since then the North began to show conciliatory gestures towards the South as well, shifting from a year and half of hostile attitude in reaction to Seoul's hardline policy that prioritises the North's denuclearisation over inter-Korean exchange.

Kim Jong-il conveyed his willingness to normalise ties with South Korea through his meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao earlier this month.

Externally, Seoul is being urged to be more receptive to Pyongyang's messages.

Washington even gave Seoul a nudge by revealing, whether intentionally or not, that North Korea had mentioned holding a summit with the South, hinting that the allies may not be in complete cohesion over policies on the North.

"With Bill Clinton's people back in the Obama administration, it is a rare chance for North Korea to engage in dialogue with the United States," Cheong said.

"Working-level talks between Pyongyang and Washington, expected to take place later this month, would lead to higher-level talks, possibly aiming to have the North return to where it stopped in the course of denuclearisation."

Despite such a change of mood, South Korea restricts itself, at least outwardly, to limited exchanges with the North for now.

Government sources here said yesterday (October 22) Seoul is considering resuming imports of sand from North Korea, which it suspended in April when the North test-fired a long-range rocket.

Seoul reportedly placed a travel restriction on sand importers due to suspicions that payments for sand shipments were pocketed by military authorities in the North.