Koreas to hold first talks since missile crisis

PUSAN, South Korea, July 11 (Reuters) A North Korean delegation left for the South for the first high-level inter-Korean talks since Pyongyang's missile tests last week raised regional tensions, a Unification Ministry official said.

South Korean officials have said that they wanted to skip the usual issue of economic cooperation and instead focus squarely on seeking an explanation for why the North triggered the crisis by firing off seven missiles, including the long-range Taepodong-2.

The North Koreans were scheduled to arrive near the southern port city of Pusan at about 0400 hrs local time, the official said.

South Korea has said it would hold off on providing further humanitarian assistance to its impoverished neighbour for now.

''The ministerial talks in the past discussed economic cooperation, but it can't be a place to discuss economic cooperation this time,'' said Song Min-soon, chief national security adviser to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

''The idea is, come ready with an explanation about the missiles, six-party talks and the nuclear issue that we can understand so that we can make an assessment later on,'' Song said on MBC radio yesterday.

South Korea has been pressing Pyongyang to return to a separate set of six-country talks with the United States, Japan, China and Russia aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

These talks have been stalled since November.

REUTERS SB RK1154