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N Korea plays nuke waiting game
19/05/2005 20:50 - (SA)
Seoul - South and North Korea agreed on Thursday to resume high-level reconciliation talks next month, but failed to reach a breakthrough in efforts to get Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks.
A statement, which wrapped up the first inter-Korean talks in 10 months, said the two Koreas agreed to hold cabinet-level talks on June 21-24 in Seoul.
The South agreed to dispatch a delegation for ceremonies in Pyongyang in June to mark the fifth anniversary of an inter-Korean summit on June 15 2000.
The summit prompted a series of inter-Korean reconciliation events, followed by 14 rounds of ministerial talks, but North Korea boycotted inter-Korean talks last summer amid tension about its nuclear weapons drive.
Talks to end nuclear programmes
The statement said: "Both sides ... agree to make joint efforts for the improvement of their relations and peace on the Korean peninsula."
But it made no mention of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, despite hectic efforts by South Korea to win a promise from North Korea to return to six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.
The agreement came at talks between South and North Korean vice-ministers, which began on Monday at Kaesong City near the inter-Korean border.
Earlier, South Korean officials said their repeated calls for North Korea to rejoin the stalled six-party nuclear talks had gone unanswered.
But after the agreement was reached Seoul's chief delegate, Rhee Bong-Jo, adopted a positive tone.
Resolution of nuclear issue
Rhee Bong-jo, the chief South Korean negotiator said: "South and North Korea actively expressed their strong will for the resolution of the nuclear issue."
A senior government official said the comment on joint efforts for peace on the Korean peninsula was a veiled reference to the nuclear standoff.
The official said: "This is Pyongyang's way of hinting that the nuclear issue is in there."
Pyongyang had boycotted the six-way talks since the third round in June in Beijing last year.
US officials had warned that Washington and its allies were losing patience with North Korea's refusal to return to dialogue, hinting that Pyongyang could be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Working-level contact
The inter-Korean talks followed the first direct contact between US and North Korean officials in nearly half a year via Pyongyang's UN mission in New York.
A US embassy official in Tokyo said "working-level contact" took place last week.
The official said: "As previously, this channel is used to convey messages about US policy, not to negotiate."
The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun said Joseph DeTrani, the US special envoy for the six-party talks, told North Korea that Washington recognises Pyongyang as a sovereign state and had no intention of attacking it.
- AFP
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