Buddhists From 2 Koreas Hold Joint Ceremony

In this photo released by Geumgang News Paper, North and South Korean, clad in Buddhist garb,...

In this photo released by Geumgang News Paper, North and South Korean, clad in Buddhist garb, Buddhist monks pray during a service marking the 908th anniversary of the death of the Cheontae Order's founder at the a temple in Kaesong, North Korea, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. More than a dozen of South and North Korean Buddhist monks held a joint ceremony at a temple in the communist country on Saturday, a South Korean Buddhist monk said, showing the countries continue civil exchange despite a bloody naval skirmish earlier this month. (AP Photo/Geumgang News Pape, Nam Dong-woo)

(AP)

Buddhist monks from South and North Korea held a joint ceremony at a temple in the communist country Saturday in a continuation of civic exchanges between the nations despite a bloody naval skirmish earlier this month.

The two countries are trying to minimize political damage from the naval clash off their disputed western sea border on Nov. 10, which killed one North Korean sailor and wounded three others, according to South Korea.

"This shows that inter-Korean exchange and cooperation proceeds in a normal manner," South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said of Saturday's ceremony.

Eight South Korean monks from the Cheontae Order and four North Korean monks — all clad in gray or dark blue Buddhist robes — marked the 908th anniversary of the death of the order's founder, a monk named Jawoon said after returning home from the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

Kaesong is also the site of a joint North and South Korean industrial complex and was one of two scenic areas that South Korean tourists had been able to visit, along with the Diamond Mountain resort on North Korea's east coast.

The tours — a key symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation — were halted last year amid heightened tensions. North Korea said in August it would restart them, but a date has yet to be worked out.

Jong So Jong, a senior official in the North's Buddhist Federation of Korea, expressed confidence that Saturday's ceremony would help in restarting the tours.

The Cheontae Order, South Korea's second-largest Buddhist sect, helped North Korea restore a temple in Kaesong in 2005. Since then, monks from the two Koreas have held annual ceremonies there, except last year when ties soured.

Relations between the two Koreas worsened after a conservative government that advocates tougher policies toward the North took office in South Korea last year.