SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea proposed earlier Monday a later date for working-level talks suggested by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on resuming halted cross-border tours, the government said.

The DPRK previously proposed to hold talks on January 26, but the South Korean government suggested pushing the date back to February 8 and holding the meeting in the border town of Kaesong, Seoul's Ministry of Unification said.

"Of course the DPRK proposed to hold talks tomorrow, but we thought there needed to be enough internal discussions and reviews on the matter, as there are sensitive issues between the two countries that need examining (ahead of the talks),"the ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters in a briefing.