The front view of Manwoldae in Gaeseong. Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration

A section of Manwoldae, where South and North Korea will do an archaeological survey from Sept. 27 to Dec. 27. Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration

South and North Korea will resume their joint excavation of the site of an ancient palace in the North's border town of Gaeseong late this month, Seoul's cultural heritage authority said Tuesday.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said that it has agreed during a working-level meeting with the North's National Reconciliation Council in Gaeseong on Thursday to conduct a joint survey and preservation of the Manwoldae site for three months from Sept. 27 to Dec. 27. Manwoldae was a palace of the 918-1392 Goryeo Dynasty for about 400 years.

The two Koreas will hold a ceremony to celebrate the resumption of the joint project on Oct. 2, with relevant officials from both sides attending, the agency said.

The Koreas conducted seven rounds of joint excavation of the historical site spanning 250,000 square meters of land from 2007 to 2015 and discovered traces of 40 buildings and 16,500 relics. The project, however, has since been suspended amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula over the North's missile and nuclear tests.

An excavation site of Kaesong Manwoldae ― large stairs ― during the sixth joint excavation in 2014. Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration

A prunus vase excavated during the seventh joint excavation in 2015. Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration

During the working-level talks, South Korean officials proposed the resumption of other inter-Korean cultural cooperation projects, such as jointly adding the traditional Korean wrestling of "ssireum" on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list and the joint excavation of Goguryeo tombs in Pyongyang. Goguryeo is an ancient kingdom that ruled the northern part of the peninsula.

Also among the joint programs proposed were holding a survey of relics of the 1919 March 1st Movement, one of the earliest public displays of the Korean resistance during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, the 100th anniversary of the historical event and the publication of a common Korean-language dictionary.

North Korea unsuccessfully attempted to add ssireum on the UNESCO list in 2016, while the South's application for inscription is up for discussion during a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in November. (Yonhap)