South fails to get N Korea to return to nuclear talks

South Korea failed to persuade the North to return to stalled international disarmament talks, but both sides agreed yesterday to move ahead on an agreement for the North to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

During the Cabinet-level talks that began last Friday in Pyong- yang, Seoul had tried to coax the North back to the six-nation talks on its nuclear program.

Those talks produced an agreement last September where the North said it would give up its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid. However, no progress has been made on implementing the pact.

In their two-way talks yester-day, the two agreed only to "continue to make efforts for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and to "actively cooperate to ensure that the nuclear issue ... is resolved peacefully" by quickly implementing the September accord.

The two also agreed to cooperate on taking practical steps to guarantee peace and ease tension on the peninsula, according to a joint statement issued at end of the four-day talks. But there weren't any further details on what those steps would be.

The Koreas made similar statement at their last round of inter-Korean talks last December. The forum is the highest-level regular dialogue between the North and South, which remain technically at war but have made strides toward reconciliation since the first-and-only summit in 2000 between the two countries' leaders.

The six-nation nuclear talks have been deadlocked since last November over the North's refusal to attend, due to its anger over the US' financial sanctions.