Larry King and Shawn King call timeout on divorce

Larry King and his wife, Shawn Southwick King, are taking a break ... from pressing ahead with their divorce petitions.

The couple, whose divorce proceedings have barely begun -- he filed to end their 12 1/2-year marriage last week, and she followed suit shortly thereafter -- say they're going to try to hug it out before they go full steam ahead into dissolving their union. And by "hug it out," we mean "continue to attend counseling."

"Larry and Shawn met with the counselor [Monday]. It was decided that there will be no divorce activity for two weeks as several issues need to be discussed and resolved," Larry's attorney, Dennis Wasser, tells TMZ.

Presumably that whole you-gave-my-sister-a-diamond-necklace-what-was-that-for issue is near the top of the list.

Despite their agreement to go into counseling, though, neither Larry nor Shawn has called off the legal dogs completely just yet. Their divorce petitions are still on file with the L.A. County courts and presumably will be until at least the current round of counseling ends. All they've agreed to so far is not to push the court case any further.

So stay tuned till the first week of May to see if the whole sordid saga continues.

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