The government on Wednesday said it is allowing a group of scholars and writers who are trying to compile a dictionary that can be used by all Koreans to visit North Korea.

   The unification ministry said 28 people belonging to the Joint Board of South and North Korea for the Compilation of Gyeoremal-keunsajeon will arrive in Pyongyang on Thursday and return on Nov. 8 after consultation with their North Korean counterparts.

   The visit will mark the first time in five years that South Korean members of the joint board will go to the communist country.

The last visit took place in October 2009 in the city of Kaesong, just north of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

   All visits had been halted after Seoul banned most South-North interaction in reprisal for the March 2010 sinking of one of its warships near the sea border with North Korea that left 46 sailors dead.

   According to the board, 330,000 words will be listed in the dictionary, with 55,000 having been examined so far.

   The group plans to meet every quarter so that it can screen words. The compilation of the entire dictionary should be completed by April 2019.

   The ministry said it is permitting the visit because the meeting is nonpolitical in nature and it aims to overcome differences that have cropped up in the Korean language over the years.

   "The meeting is a worthwhile endeavor since it wants to preserve and advance joint Korean heritage," the ministry in charge of authorizing all contact with the North said.

   The project was officially launched on February 20, 2005, with the first session attended by members from both sides on Mount Kumgang in North Korea. (Yonhap)