SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) accepted South Korea's offer to hold a senior-level, inter-governmental dialogue next week, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.

Baek Tae-hyun, spokesman of the unification ministry, told a press briefing that the DPRK side sent a notice to the South Korean side at about 10:16 a.m. local time (0116 GMT) via the communications channel in the truce village of Panmunjom.

With the notice, the DPRK accepted South Korea's proposal to hold high-level talks on Jan. 9 at the Peace House, a building controlled by South Korea in Panmunjom that straddles the heavily guarded inter-Korean land border.

The DPRK notice was sent in the name of the chief of the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland to the South Korean unification minister.