Seoul, July 12: South and North Korean negotiators failed to agree today on a format for talks on resolving a dispute over the North's suspected development of nuclear weapons. In a vaguely worded statement, they agreed to pursue a peaceful end to the nine-month-old crisis. "The South and North expressed concern over the recent situation on the Korean peninsula and agreed that joint efforts are needed to sustain peace and safety on the peninsula," negotiators said in a joint statement after a marathon, overnight session of talks.
North Korean chief delegate Kim Ryong Song and South Korean unification minister Jeong Se-Hyun shook hands and said they had "agreed to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through an appropriate method of dialogue."
The statement fell short of South Korea's hopes that it could persuade North Korea to agree to discuss the nuclear issue in multilateral talks that could include the United States, China, Japan and Russia. North Korea has said it first wants one-on-one talks with the United States, the South's chief ally.
In a statement, South Korea said it believed the meetings in Seoul had "created the atmosphere" for North Korea's participation in multilateral talks. South Korea has warned that it might curtail reconciliation efforts with the North if the communist state does not take action to ease tensions over its nuclear development.
But the delegates at the cabinet-level talks agreed to hold temporary reunions of separated family members around a national holiday period on Sept 11, as well as more high-level talks in Pyongyang on Oct 14-17. Bureau Report