S Korea fails to get North back to nuclear talks

Seoul, Apr 24: North Korea today agreed to work toward implementing a deal under which Pyongyang would scrap its nuclear weapons programmes, but could not be induced to come back to multilateral disarmament talks.

In an eight-point statement issued at the end of four-day inter-Korean talks, the two Koreas pledged to cooperate to reduce military tension and develop resources. They will also hold an economic cooperation meeting next month.

Participants in the multilateral talks, the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, agreed last September that Pyongyang would dismantle nuclear programmes in exchange for aid, security assurances and improved diplomatic ties.

Their last session in November ended without progress. The nuclear talks have hit a snag over a US crackdown on firms it suspects of aiding the North in illicit financial activities.

''The South and the North agreed to continue to make efforts for the denuclearisation of the peninsula and cooperate for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue by having the September. 19 joint agreement implemented at an early date,'' the statement said.

South Korean officials said they were looking to possibly win the return of some of the more than 1,000 South Korean prisoners held in the North from the 1950-1953 Korean War and South Koreans abducted by the North after the war.

The two pledged to cooperate to determine the fate of ''those people who have gone missing since the end of the war'' without using the explicit language of ''abductees'' or ''prisoners of war''.

The North has said it is not holding any South Koreans against their will, and in previous meetings, the two sides have also avoided using the term abductees.

Seoul said during the meeting, it will consider repatriating some 30 North Koreans it has held for decades for spying in exchange for the possible return of South Korean POWs and abductees held in the North, according to South Korean media pool reports.

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, who led the South's delegation, had said Seoul was considering a major package of aid in order to resolve the issue of some 600 South Korean POWs and 485 civilians thought to be alive in the North.

During the meeting, North Korea requested 500,000 tonnes of rice and 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser from the South, reports said. The South has already delivered 150,000 tonnes of fertiliser this year but did not make any further pledges of aid.

North Korea has been battling food shortages for years and relies on handouts to feed its people.

The next inter-Korean, ministerial-level talks will be held in July in the South Korean city of Pusan, the statement said.

REUTERS