FACTBOX: Twists in reconciliation between two Koreas

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean woman tourist in her 50s was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier at a mountain resort in the North after she wandered into a military area, a South Korean government official said on Friday.

The resort was one of several projects designed to bring the two states, technically still at war, closer together.

The following are some key reconciliation steps.

August 1971 to 1972 - The two Koreas hold their first formal discussions since the end of the Korean War. Preliminary talks sputter due to lingering animosity. They eventually issue a statement on July 4, 1972, calling for an independent and peaceful reunification of the divided country.

November 1998 - The first South Korean tourists visit the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, which was built by an affiliate of the South's Hyundai Group. More than 1 million South Koreans, limited as to where they can go and what they can see by North Korean guides and soldiers, have visited since then.

Hyundai Asan said the resort "is the place offering the opportunity to experience the unified Korea in advance".

U.S. officials have questioned the resort, saying it might be a cash cow for the North's leaders.

June 15, 2000 - Leaders from the two countries hold an unprecedented summit in Pyongyang. The meeting of then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il led to increased cooperation and ushered in a brief era when the reclusive North opened itself.

August 15, 2000 - The two hold the first reunion for the families separated after the Korean War.

June 2003 - Groundbreaking for the Kaesong industrial park, a factory complex just north of the border where South Korean companies use cheap North Korean land and labor to produce goods. Hyundai Asan plans to eventually have 2,000 companies there, employing half a million or more North Korean workers.

May 17, 2007 - North and South Korea run their first trains across their border since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

October 2007 - The leaders of the two Koreas hold their second summit.

December 2007 - North Korea opens Kaesong for single-day tours starting in the South.

March 2008 - North Korea, angered by the hard-line approach of the South's news president, expels South Korean officials from the Kaesong industrial park.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Jonathan Hopfner)