Seoul, Oct 17: Cabinet-level talks between North and South Korea ended today in Pyongyang with no progress on Seoul's call for a new round of six-way nuclear crisis talks, pool reports said. The talks stalled soon after Wednesday's opening session as Pyongyang rebuffed Seoul's request for a follow-up to the first round of six-way talks held in Beijing in August.
The issue was excluded from a brief joint press statement released at the close of the talks, according to the reports.
"The North and the South expounded on their positions concerning issues raised at the talks and held sincere discussion," the statement said. "They agreed to make continued efforts to promote peace on the Korean peninsula and deepen inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation," it added.
The two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States met for the six-way talks for the first time in late August to ease tensions caused by North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. Pyongyang later called the talks "useless" and said it had no interest in further meetings, preferring instead to build up its nuclear deterrent. Bureau Report