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Two Koreas in tough talks
31/05/2007 13:49 - (SA)
Seoul - The two Koreas faced tough negotiations on Thursday over South Korea's refusal to send promised rice shipments and the North's delay on shutting down its nuclear reactor.
South Korea hopes the Cabinet-level inter-Korean reconciliation talks, entering their third day, will nudge its communist neighbour toward fulfilling its February pledge to start dismantling its nuclear weapon programmes.
Seoul has been holding up rice aid to the North until Pyongyang moves to fulfil the agreement.
Meanwhile, US and Chinese diplomats meeting in Beijing failed to make any breakthroughs on how to persuade North Korea to shut down its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor, part of a deal it made in exchange for energy aid and political concessions.
A senior North Korean official in Pyongyang likewise confirmed the North's intentions to shut the reactor down, but only after settling a dispute over frozen assets.
On Wednesday, South Korea proposed formally restarting cross-border rail service between the countries, while North Korea urged the South to abandon joint military manoeuvres with the United States, which still stations about 28 000 troops in the South as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
This week's talks are the highest channel of regular dialogue between the two Koreas and are the 21st such meeting.
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